The travel clothing guide

47!

That's the number of train journeys I made in 2023, so almost one per week . Needless to say, I had time to think and optimize my clothes and my suitcase/backpack when I was on the move.

And it’s a subject that I love: how to dress when you’re on the move, far from home?

In this guide, I want to share with you my 15 years of travel and clothing experience.

But first of all, you need to decide whether you are going with a suitcase or a backpack, because that will be a determining factor in what clothes to bring.

And you choose one or the other, there is a somewhat unexpected question to ask yourself…

First of all, do you want to wear a dress coat and/or blazer when you're out and about?

This is the question that will be decisive. Indeed, coats and blazers often have an epaulette . This element allows you to have a nice shoulder that stands up, otherwise the piece would fall like a shirt.

Unfortunately, this is an element that can quickly become damaged by carrying a backpack, or even worse, a shoulder bag . The shoulder pads of your coat will then gradually become deformed, completely ruining your silhouette.

So if you insist on carrying a dress coat on your travels, a suitcase is a must (and why not a small bag to carry by hand to put a computer and a few small things for the trip).

But then what outerwear to wear with a backpack? Everything else! The parka is king, but it can also be a jacket, a mac, an overshirt, a workwear jacket, there is no shortage of choices. If you like outdoor pieces, treat yourself too, they are often designed to be worn with backpacks.

Personally, with a backpack, I carried a lot:

• outerwear in Ventile fabric, a 100% cotton technical fabric
• workwear jackets, often very practical with their multiple pockets for traveling
• of all kinds of overshirts

Many of our outerwear are “back pack friendly”, with a shoulder construction without shoulder pads:

Let's talk about the very extreme cases, but I know that this concerns some of you: if you wear the same outerwear almost every day , for months and months, or even years, with a relatively loaded backpack , there will inevitably be areas where the fabric of your piece will show some areas with a little abrasion.

And of course, this is a non-existent situation in the case of a suitcase! The suitcase is therefore an essential choice if you wear clothes with fabrics and/or materials that need to be treated delicately .

So if I have to summarize my usage:

• Weekend trip = backpack, especially if there is a lot of walking between stations and accommodation, no luggage lockers available, etc.
• Weekend where I know I won't be walking much with my suitcase (e.g. someone will pick me up by car at the station) and where I want a different outfit every day = suitcase
• Trip of a week or more = suitcase + backpack
• Travel week where I change accommodations frequently = minimalist wardrobe + backpack

Be careful with delicate knits with a backpack, friction can prematurely wear out the natural fibers and make holes.

For the record, this is what led Goruck, a famous brand of ultra-rugged backpacks, to replace the fabric of the back panel. From an indestructible but terribly abrasive 1000 denier Cordura fabric for t-shirts and other knitwear, they moved to a 210 denier fabric, much softer for clothing.

Personally, I had a period where I took my suitcase a lot, but I gradually changed to only taking a backpack , perhaps because I started walking a lot more.

Which brings me to the following observations:

• We greatly underestimate the heat that a body can give off when walking briskly with a backpack , so be careful not to cover yourself too much when leaving the train or your accommodation!
  If you live in France, wearing a good sweater, a warm parka and a backpack will be overkill in 99% of cases. You will be too hot, that's almost certain. In winter, when stationary, you should be "comfortably cold", and you will be at a good temperature after a few minutes of walking.
• There is obviously a risk of sweating on the back for walks of more than ten minutes, and for this reason I only wear our merino t-shirts and any other woolen piece (one of our sweaters too) for the anti-odor properties on the days when I travel.

And I like the feeling of freedom and fluidity of walking with a backpack rather than a suitcase. It's much simpler:

• to slalom between people,
• to take the stairs,
• to move through the corridors of a train,
• to run to catch a train that is about to leave,
• or simply to hurry up and change sidewalks.

On the backpack side, if I take a capacity of 35 - 40 liters, I can easily push to have enough clothing with variety for 3 - 4 days.

Beyond that, you will need to have access to a washing machine or accept being redundant with your clothes, even more so if you take with you a second pair of shoes and/or sportswear for a specific use (outdoors, gym... or sometimes all at once!).

25-30 liters seems to me to be the minimum for a 24-48 hour trip carrying a computer. Below that, you'd better travel very, very light!

For more information on the volume needed, read my article on choosing the size of a backpack .

I wrote it above: a suitcase allows you to carry elegant coats on you, but not only. Due to its very angular shape and rigidity, ironed clothes crease less, and a possible second pair of shoes will be easier to store.

Typically, this is a great choice if you want to travel with multiple shirts and chinos in “packing cubes” .

Another argument for the suitcase: you can take heavier items! For example, it is much more pleasant to carry your clothes + a generous toiletry bag + two glass bottles of kombucha + a pair of dress shoes with wooden shoe trees in a suitcase than in a backpack weighing more than ten kilos. And this is for those who like to comfortably carry a wardrobe and who have a perfectly organized trip where you jump on public transport as soon as you leave the station, or if someone comes to pick you up.

On the other hand, if it's a trip where you're going to have to walk at least ten minutes (for example between the station and your accommodation), seriously think about a backpack .

Personally, I like to take a suitcase when my trip lasts more than 4 days.

These are bags that are carried by the handle or over the shoulder.

To be honest, it's a format that I haven't explored much yet, probably because I don't hesitate to walk 30 minutes to get to the station (just to do a minimum of physical activity without anyone noticing), and I can't see myself carrying a weekend bag weighing several kilos on one side, with one arm.

But the weekend bag still has some advantages:

• It's still super stylish compared to a suitcase or a backpack,
• They exist in all possible volumes
• It is easy to handle, especially if you already carry a backpack with you
• Given its “soft” structure, it can easily be placed in a well-loaded car trunk
• and you can easily put objects of exotic dimensions in it that would not fit well in a backpack

This is an absolutely perfect bag if you are throwing your bag directly into the trunk of your vehicle when leaving home.

But we will have the opportunity to come back to this in more detail in a future article.

Now let’s get down to business, with the 5 types of travel that I encounter most frequently.

Little or no sporting stakes here, on the other hand we like to treat ourselves with beautiful shirts and beautiful knitwear.

Basically, dress however you want !

As for shoes, if you are in the countryside, you will inevitably be walking on gravel or old stone: so remember to have comfortable soles, like sneakers or a good big Vibram or Dainite sole.

And finally, this is my little coquetry, I like to take a pair of shoes to wear indoors, so as not to dirty my friends' living room:

• a pair of slippers or slippers in winter,
• a pair of espadrilles or flip-flops in summer.

I remember a wedding in late August 2023 where I had to bring a blazer and a tuxedo to boot.

Luckily the journey was smooth, with taxis between major locations, so there was no need to walk miles.

So I took a small backpack (computer, book, chargers, etc.), a cabin suitcase, and a suit cover.

Today, there are bags specially designed for transporting suits, but if traveling in a suit is still an exception for you, the smallest cover sold with your suit will do the trick.

You can try the option where you fold your suit into your suitcase, but only do this if:

• the journey does not last 12 hours,
• the wool of your suit creases little.

To fold it, you will find many tutorials on Youtube, but I admit to having a preference for the delicacy with which the Artling brand takes care of the jacket:

Unfortunately, hiking gear is rather bulky : you will need to bring a second pair of shoes, a mid layer, outerwear, another base layer, etc.

I've given up on having a single bag where I can carry:

• my computer,
• all my hiking gear,
• my “non-hiking” stuff, aka what I’m going to wear at my friends’ house or to a restaurant (I don’t want to go dressed like a hiker)
• and all with a backpack big enough to carry everything but small enough for a day hike,

So now, I necessarily take a suitcase with all my clothes + a backpack for the train journey and which will also serve as a backpack for the day of hiking, like a Mystery Ranch, a Remote Equipment, a Kifaru or a Hill People gear.

It's a typical summer vacation!

Unless you opt for a backpacking trip, I would still advise you to take a suitcase, so that you can dress as you wish, without being constrained by a backpack that is too small.

Indeed, holidays are often an opportunity to treat yourself by wearing clothes that you don't necessarily wear the rest of the year, like colorful shirts, accessories, etc. It's a shame to deprive yourself of them!

Personal anecdote: for a long time I tried to fit two weeks of clothes into a cabin suitcase (36 liters) but it was sometimes very difficult. So I sometimes use a 61-liter suitcase (the H6 from Horizn Studios), and it's still infinitely more practical, especially if you want to take two or three pairs of shoes.

This is the case where you want to be very light and leave with a 25-liter backpack, no more! It is a “high mobility” trip, intense, where you will walk a lot, take a multitude of transport, change accommodation and wander around a bit everywhere.

The advantage is that your backpack will be light, and therefore less abrasive on your clothes.

There are no two ways about it, and your salvation will come from two words: merino wool . The anti-odor and thermal properties will be very useful, and will allow you to wear the same merino wool t-shirt (or underwear) for three days without any problem.

This is why our Newtim t-shirts are one of the BonneGueule pieces that I wear the most, especially when traveling.

As for pants, I prefer pieces with a little bit of stretch , very practical for sitting for several hours on a train .

Here is a typical gear list for this kind of weekend:

• a pair of pants, worn on you, and a second one as a backup,
• a merino t-shirt, worn on you, and a second one as a backup,
• a fine wool sweater, worn on you, like our Asti sweater or the Treviso
• a shirt in the bag, if you want to be extra flirtatious
• a set of merino underwear and another as a backup (take an extra one if you are not comfortable with the idea of ​​leaving with so few spare underwear)
• a mid layer: our Bergame jacket or our Milo wool overshirt are perfect candidates for this role,
• rather light outerwear, because you already have enough to keep you warm, to be adjusted according to the forecast weather.
• and your toiletries, your charging cables, etc.

And remember: don't underestimate the heat your body will produce when walking briskly with a backpack, so don't cover up too much!

For the past ten years or so, we have seen a major emergence of brands specializing in technical Swiss army knife clothing, adapted to both urban life and travel with a lot of movement . We are talking about techwear or urban techwear , and we have already written about these brands several times:

• File: How to dress in a TECHWEAR / OUTDOOR style #1 (pieces and brands)
• My introduction to techwear – Let’s Talk Clothes #41
• Our test and opinion: the Seagale “Action Merino” henley
• What size backpack should I choose?
• Outdoor clothing without synthetic materials?

They come mainly from the United States, because Americans are very demanding on comfort, more than on pure style. The result is sober clothes, but in many stretch fabrics and/or with merino for anti-odor properties.

Outlier and Mission Workshop are the two pioneering brands of this movement, with very high-end materials and American manufacturing, hence very high prices.

But let's also mention Western Rise (much more entry-level), Ministry of Supply, Aclhemy Equipement, Huckberry, Goruck, Prana, Wool & Prince. In France, it's Seagale ( with whom we have already collaborated! ) who is known for this niche of technical clothing.

However, I find that the deliberately very sober design of this kind of brand can sometimes leave me wanting more: these are often the most consensual and versatile colors, cuts, and shapes possible, because that's exactly what we expect from these clothes. No strong design to be able to integrate into as many outfits as possible .

And a polyester fabric, however stretchy and breathable, will never have the beauty, drape, fluidity and light of a fabric made from natural fibers (whether cotton, wool or linen) from a beautiful Italian supplier.

Let's be clear: I love technical clothing, and BonneGueule was one of the first French brands to release technical urban pants in Schoeller fabric almost ten years ago, but apart from occasions when I want to travel very light and have pants that do everything (travel, urban outings, and outdoor activities), I increasingly like to have outfits with a style that goes further when traveling.

So my recommendation, for the more adventurous among you, is to try these pieces (especially the pants because it is a piece that makes the slightest movement horrible if it is not comfortable) but not to forget the interest of a beautiful textured Japanese fabric for example! In most cases, a simple chino with a little stretch (or a straight cut for more comfort) will be more than enough.

That's it for this guide to clothing when traveling, don't hesitate if you have any questions in the comments, I'll be happy to answer them!