Travel clothing & footwear

  Essentials

• The best clothes for travel are chosen with care — Unless you have no clothing budget, don’t just pull clothes out of the closet. You need clothes that are comfortable, light weight, compact to pack, versatile for different uses, easy to wash, fast to dry and wrinkle resistant.
• These qualities depend upon fabric, design and quality of sewing — Check clothes you already own for these qualities before buying “technical” travel clothes or cheaper garments made with similar fabrics.
• Look good! — The best travel clothes combine functional qualities with style. You want to feel pleased about your appearance and not stand out as a visitor (or at least not as a naïve tourist).
• Minimize the number of garments you pack — Too many will bloat your luggage. 
• Do not bring jeans — They are too impractical… heavy, bulky, hard to wash and long to dry. 
• Do not bring dressy clothes “just in case” — Unless you know for sure that you’ll need them regularly, they will consume precious space and weight.
• All of your clothing colors and styles should be mix-and-match — If your clothes are complementary (base layers excepted), you have maximum flexibility on what to wear. Try to have one combination that will also serve as casual dress for a night out.
• Layer for warmth — If you need warmth, layer more rather than carry heavy garments.
• Be sensitive to cultural standards — Dress modestly where cultural mores dictate. Do not wear shorts away from the beach or tourist district unless locals (those not doing heavy labor) are wearing them.
• Bring no more than 3 pairs of footwear — (Including the ones on your feet.) One should be a pair of flip-flops or non-leather sandals. Many pro travelers get by with one pair of shoes and one pair of flip-flops or sandals. Keep footwear light and crushable.
• Do not compromise on footwear comfort — You’ll be walking and walking and walking some more. And maybe hiking on uneven surfaces. Comfort and durability are paramount.

the Big Picture

It’s surprising how many travelers don’t think enough about clothing for travel. They rummage in the closet for something nearly appropriate for the destination, way too often including jeans. Then they cram too many items into an oversized bag and off they go.

Since clothing will consume the largest volume and considerable weight in your luggage, you must be strategic about your travel wardrobe. You need to minimize the number of garments by maximizing the utility of each piece. There’s nothing wrong wearing the same clothes every second, third or fourth day. If someone comments that you’re always wearing the same few outfits in your trip photos, reply that all pro travelers have just a few pieces.

Some budget travelers will tell you that the best travel clothes are in your closet and, when they wear out, replace them cheaply while traveling. If you’re on a strict budget, that’s a legitimate strategy. Yet, if your luggage is small, you might be challenged to keep your volume and weight down, especially if you insist on wearing jeans, flannel shirts or large heavy footwear. You could end up needing check-in size luggage. Or, if you keep the number of garments down, you might have to do laundry almost every night.

In our view, the best clothes for travel are “technical” clothes made specifically for travel. You can travel light with a small number of low-maintenance, multi-purpose garments.

If you can find non-tech clothing made of similar fabrics in your closet or on the sale rack, you can broaden your style options and maybe save some money. All garments must be well sewn or there’s a risk they will fail under constant wash and wear.

If you’re going to distinctly different destinations on the same trip, the number of garments may increase, but not too much. For example, if you’re going to a hot country, but heading up into high mountains where it’s cold, you’ll need to layer more and will probably need at least one extra outer garment. For a total switch from tropical to tundra, consider buying cheap outer garments or renting premium ones for temporary use at your cold destination.

What kind of clothes do you need?

You want to keep the size and weight of your luggage as small as possible, so it’s important to choose clothes that that can serve in multiple situations.

Climate zones & seasons

What will the climate be like at your destination during the time of year you plan to be there? Hot? Cold? Temperate? Wet? Dry? Variable? Do your research online about the minimum and maximum daily temperatures (not the average, since you’ll have to live with the extremes) and the average daily precipitation of all your destinations.

Pay attention to micro-climates — a day’s train trip, changes in elevation or going from one side of a mountain to the other can change the climate zone from hot to cold or dry to wet.

• Hot & dry — It’s no surprise that you need lightweight clothing for hot weather, but don’t make the mistake of thinking you can get away with shorts and t-shirts all day, every day. Learn from the Bedouins, who know that long-sleeved and whole-leg covering garments that fall loosely away from the skin to allow air circulation are by far the coolest.
• Hot & wet — Here you’re more likely to find short-sleeves and shorter pants and skirts more comfortable. Since clothes get sweaty and clingy quickly, you might want to plan two outfits per day. Prepare to become a Laundry King or Queen.
• Cold — Layer, layer, layer. It’s important not to get wet next to your skin, so you don’t want to overdo it and sweat. With layering, you can calibrate your comfort and add or subtract layers during the day.
• Temperate — The main challenge here is to ensure you’re equipped for a sudden change. Sunny in the morning can become rainy in the afternoon. Again, layering is the way to go.

The more extreme the changes in climate during your trip, the wider a selection of clothes you will need, but you need not bring specialized clothing for short periods in extreme weather. Appropriate clothing can be bought, even rented, at your destination. Quilted jackets are cheap in North China during the winter. On the popular trekking routes of Nepal and at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, you can rent high-quality jackets, gloves, trekking poles — even boots — left behind by mountaineering expeditions and other trekkers.

Cultural sensitivity

Most societies have dress codes that are more conservative than in western countries. Depending on where you’re going, keep that in mind as you select your travel outfits.

• “Loud” or sub-culture clothing — You can wear clothes that might be considered bold or even daring at home or clothes that express your membership in a sub-culture. In destination cultures similar to your own, this might be okay, but in most of the world people will be confused or amused to the point where you can’t have a serious interchange with them — they’ll have judged you as exotic or weird already, based on your strange clothing.
• Religious symbols — Overt religious clothing or symbols can be provocative in cultures with different religious traditions. You can still wear them, but be prepared for the occasional curious or negative reaction.

  

• Exposed skin — When visiting conservative cultures, it’s not so much what you wear as how much skin you expose or even how tightly your clothing clings to your body. Yes, it’s unfair, but women have less liberty than men to wear “inappropriate” clothing and can be severely hassled or sexually harassed for exposing “too much” skin, wearing clothing that is form-fitting or, in conservative Muslim countries, even showing too much hair. But it’s not just Muslim culture — try getting into the Grand Palace compound in Bangkok as a woman with uncovered shoulders. You’ll be sent outside the gates to rent or buy a cover-up.

Take your cue from local people. While you don’t have to wear local garb or smother your fashion sense, what they wear is a clue to what is acceptable. No destination is as strict as Saudi Arabia, where even foreign women are required by law to wear the whole-body covering abaya over their usual clothes and at least a scarf over their hair. Other places tolerate foreigners exposing more skin than local people show, at least on beaches or in tourist districts.

Yet too many foreigners insist on wearing shorts and a t-shirt in the city or even in the airport. Look around. In most cultures, only male laborers wear so little and that’s because they’re doing hot work. Foreigners dressed that way are assumed to be ignorant tourists who don’t understand or respect their host culture — so they are not deserving of respect in return.

Special activities

You’re fine doing ordinary activities wearing your everyday travel clothing. But there are activities that require specialized clothing. How do you prepare for them?

• Clothing for recreational activities — If you’re going trekking, for example, you may need a few extra garments to layer up, depending upon climate and elevation, and you might need a sturdy pair of boots. Again, specialized clothing, such as jackets, gloves and boots for trekking can be bought or rented locally in any destination where foreigners do that activity. If you decide to take this lumpy gear from home, try to go trekking early in your trip so that you can mail the specialized gear home, sell it or give it away. You don’t want to be carrying it around for your entire trip.
• Dressy occasions — Maybe you want to check-out that casino, but it has a dress code. Or you would love to dine at a famous restaurant, but it, too, requires a dress or jacket and tie. Or perhaps you’re invited to an event where everyone else will be in formal attire. Unless you’re a luxury traveler or have high society contacts abroad, such events are unlikely. DO NOT pack extra clothes for the chance it will occur. If it does, buy or rent locally.

Personal style

With all these constraints, is it possible to still look good? If you’re sensitive to fashion it actually is a challenge while traveling. While your race might make you an obvious visitor, you want to blend in as much as possible (to minimize the attention of touts, beggars, scammers and commission men). You don’t want to look like a conspicuous tourist, a hiker lost in the city or seem otherwise out of place. Still, you want to like your look.

Technical clothing values function over form and the range of styles is limited. They tend to split between “travel” styles and “outdoor” styles. The outdoor styles are made for back country recreation and don’t suit urban activities. Yet the travel styles are made of the same fabrics, minus the zip-off legs, patch pockets and insect repellant. They can still work for most back country adventures.

If style really matters to you, you will probably end up taking less functional clothing from your closet. You might take more garments, too. So, just how fashionable do you want to be? Is it worth the compromises you’ll have to make in the size and weight of your luggage and in the functionality of your clothing?

If your trip is long, even the best travel clothing might not go the distance. It’s likely that you’ll replace at least a few worn out garments at some point. Depending upon where you are, you may not have the option of technical fabrics and the available styles might be a bit off, too.

How to limit your garments

Especially if you’re traveling one bag — but even if you’re going with a larger check in size bag — you need to limit your clothing. If you ask yourself whether you really need one more t-shirt or whether you really need something more dressy, your default answer should be “No.”

If your travel apparel doesn’t include what you need for some occasion — such as formal or semi-formal attire or recreational gear for a specialized activity — the worst that can happen is that you’ll have to buy, rent or borrow an outfit locally. Realistically, how often is that going to happen?

There are simple strategies to limit the number of garments while covering most needs.

• Colors — Get every single piece (not necessarily underwear) in complementary colors so that you can mix-and-match everything. Lighter colors may be cooler and less attractive to mosquitos, but darker colors are better at hiding wrinkles and dirt than lighter colors. If you’re going to a hot country, dark and white hide perspiration better than in-between colors. If all dark or all white won’t do, patterns hide better than solid colors. Do not choose military or camouflage patterns as — dumb as it seems — they can arouse the suspicions of police and military personnel in some countries.
• Layering —  The best way to adapt to the weather is to layer. Your inner layer must wick moisture away from your body. The next layer is for insulation or sun-protection. The outer layer is to repel rain and block wind. If it’s hot, wear just one layer over your underwear, adding (multiple) layers as the weather cools and a thin outer shell to cut wind and rain. Cold environments simply require more layers, notably an insulated jacket, as well as insulation for your head, hands, feet and, in severe cold, lower body.
• Multi-purpose — Where possible, select clothing and footwear that serve more than one purpose. Clothes that are good for city wear should also be good for some backcountry hiking. T-shirts and underwear can be used as sleepwear. Flip-flops or non-leather sandals can double as “bathroom shoes” for that dubious shower stall. Dark, undecorated walking shoes can be buffed for an evening out. A conservatively cut long-sleeved shirt with a proper collar can do duty as a day-to-day shirt, but still be pressed into service as a sort-of-dress shirt.
• Technical fabrics — Synthetic blends of “technical” fabrics feature superior breathability, low weight, low volume, quick drying, sun blocking, lasting durability and other features that make them preferable to natural fabrics and natural – synthetic blends.

How to choose your clothing

For all types of clothing, we list 7 quality features:

• Volume & weight
• Durability
• Comfort
• Ease of laundering
• Protection
• Appearance & style
• Value for money

Volume & weight

How do you minimize the burden of clothing in your luggage?

Clothing will take up more space and weight in your bag than any other category of gear. Anything you can do to reduce that weight and bulk will leave more available for other gear, while keeping your total size and weight under carry-on limits or at least reasonable for manually handling your bag.

• Volume (bulk) — It is possible to crush your clothes into your bag, but even the most forgiving fabric will look very wrinkled when you bring it out. Fewer garments should allow you to pack in bundles or packing cubes loosely enough to avoid excessive wrinkling. 
• Weight — Clothing isn’t heavy compared to footwear, electronics, books, toiletries and other stuff, but there’s a lot of it, so it adds up. If you can consistently choose light-weight clothing, it will help keep your overall weight down. 

Conventional clothes will take more of your precious packing volume. There’s one ironclad rule: don’t take jeans. They’re among the heaviest and bulkiest pants you can find and are the worst for laundering. Technical clothes are made of strong, thin fabric that folds or rolls into a much smaller space. They launder easily.

Durability

Will your clothes survive the trip?

Constant travel is brutal on clothing, especially as you wear and launder the same garments every few days.

• Fabric — Constant wear and laundering will quickly test the quality of fabric. You need fabric that’s resistant to abrasion, running, pilling and tearing. It should hold its shape, too, and not stretch or sag out of shape.
• Non-fabric parts — Buttons, snaps, zippers, velcro closings and other parts should all be good quality and well attached.
• Sewing — Seams and closings must be well sewn. With a small sewing kit and matching thread, you can do repairs on the go, but it’s best if the garment is well sewn to start with.

You can find conventional clothes that are quite durable, but durability often means heavy and bulky. Consider the trade-offs and go for the same lighter fabrics used in technical clothes.

If you want to take clothing you already own, inspect each piece carefully, not just for build quality, but for the amount of wear-and-tear it has already experienced. Unless your trip is short, don’t take a garment you love if it’s already well worn. 

Technical clothes are designed and sewn to last long. Superior fabrics and attention to quality control also contribute to longevity.

Comfort

Will your garment feel good on your body?

Your clothing must feel comfortable in whatever weather you encounter. You need to stay warm or cool, as the case may be, but always dry next to your skin. If you’ll be in multiple climate zones, one option is to discard clothes used in one climate zone and acquire new clothes for the new climate zone. Or plan how to layer effectively. Comfortable travel clothes have most of these attributes:

• Texture — Some fabrics feel scratchy or stiff or slippery or clingy where they touch your skin. You want fabric that feels smooth, supple and soft.
• Moisture wicking — Excess moisture next to your skin can make you feel damp, clammy and overheated. You need fabric that wicks moisture from your skin to the cloth, allowing the moisture to pass through the cloth and evaporate.
• Breathability & ventilation — Except for outer garments made to repel rain or block wind, fabric should be breathable, allowing the passage of air. Ideally, the cut of the garment should allow air to pass between your body and the fabric over as much area as possible. The resulting insulation keeps you cooler in hot weather and warmer in cold. Travelers in tight-fitting clothes have chosen fashion over function. 
• Stretchability — If you’re going to do active recreation, such as hiking, or if you gain a little weight from all the great food and drink, it’s good if your clothing can stretch. This is partly a function of cut and partly of fabric (a small percentage of spandex).

Some conventional clothes can very comfortable. Cotton is a good example, although it has other properties less suited to travel. Blue jeans are so impractical that they’re a sure sign of an amateur traveler, a slave to fashion or a budget wanderer who had nothing else in the closet. Technical clothes are made of breathable fibers, with good moisture-wicking properties. However, wearers may find that fabric with a high nylon content doesn’t have the soft feel of cotton. A poly-nylon blend with more polyester and less nylon still isn’t as soft as cotton, but it’s better. Most technical clothes are cut a bit loose, to keep a layer of air between your skin and the cloth (a technique local people in hot climates favor until they start wearing western clothing). Still others are ideal for layering, to keep warm.

Ease of laundering

Are your clothes easy to wash and dry?

Independent travel usually involves moving between many locations. Combine that with carrying a limited number of garments and you’ll end up doing your laundry (or having it done) very often. One bag travelers probably can’t go more than 3 days without doing laundry.

• Washing — You should prefer clothing that repels dirt and stains or at least releases them easily with mild detergent and hand squeezing in the sink. It shouldn’t be necessary to scrub hard. Gentle squeezing should remove most of the water. The wet garment should not have to be wrung out by twisting.
• Drying — Frequent moving means you will find yourself doing laundry the night before a morning departure. You want clothing that will dry overnight.
• Stain resistance — Some garments are treated with stain repellents like Scotchgard™, which helps your garment last between washings and makes cleaning easier.

In poor and some middle countries, if you send your laundry out to be washed, it can take a terrible beating (yes, an actual beating), so your clothes better be well made. If you send technical clothes out, do not have them pressed — ironing at too high heat can scorch or even melt the fabric. They usually look okay with proper folding. Cottons are tough and can be pressed at high heat, but, if you have to wash them yourself, they’re the pinnacle of inefficiency — they absorb lots of water, are hard to scrub and then take ages to dry. Technical clothes wash-up easily and dry overnight.

Protection

Will your garments protect you and your stuff?

Clothes form a protective barrier for your body and protection of the possession you carry in your pockets.  

• UPF rating — If you’re going to tropical latitudes, high elevations or even just spending most daylight hours out of doors, you should protect yourself from the full spectrum of ultra-violet radiation, both UVA (the type that wrinkles your skin) and UVB (the type that can lead to cell damage and skin cancer). The fairer your skin, the more effort at protection you should make. UV protection is rated by the Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF), ranging from zero for bare skin, up to about 50, which blocks 98% of UV. All clothing blocks some UV radiation, but some fabrics and weaves are much better at it. Most non-technical clothing is made of cotton or poly-cotton blends and has UPF ratings as low as 5 or 8. Of course, only those garments with high UPF ratings will be labeled for UPF. If you cannot find a UPF rating, choose tight weaves over looser weaves and polyester and/or nylon over cotton and cotton blends. The minimum UPF for a general use garment is around 15, while sun block against heavy UV exposure should rate between 30 and 50.
• Cut — It makes sense that the more of your body you cover, the better your protection from UV. Loose, long-sleeved garments that fall to the wrist or ankle can be quite comfortable. For those with short hair, a collar protects the very vulnerable back of the neck. Again, we point to the wisdom of the Bedouins, whose loose clothing covers everything except the face and hands, hanging from the shoulders and the crown of the head so that outer garments stand away from the skin, creating what is, in effect, portable shade. Hats should have an all-around brim, the wider the better.
• Anti-insect — Insecticide treated garments are helpful if you’re going to the jungle or other insect-heavy rural area. They’re not needed for urban adventures, except perhaps in the leafy periphery of cities in malaria zones. Some technical clothing is impregnated with permethrin insecticide (approved by the CDC) that lasts through multiple washings. If your clothes don’t come with permethrin already applied, you can buy it in spray bottles and apply it yourself.
• Water repellant — Outer garments should be water resistant. Truly waterproof outer garments don’t breathe well and are not suitable for day-to-day wear.
• Fasteners and closings — To discourage pickpockets or accidental loss, zippers on pockets are better than velcro and velcro is better than buttons.
• Hidden pockets — Hidden pockets sewn into garments are helpful, but if you plan to keep vital documents and money in them, you will need to wear hidden pocket clothing every time you go out. That means that you’ll need a hidden pocket on multiple garments. Keep in mind that not all hidden pockets are equally useful: a passport, money and other documents will make a visible lump inside the chest of a shirt or the thigh of tighter pants. Better locations are the small of the back or thigh of loose pants.

You can’t check all the boxes when choosing travel clothes, so, if you have to choose from the Protection menu, go for UV protection first. You’ll be exposed to sun way more than bugs, which can then be discouraged with separate insect repellant. The protection of stuff in your pockets is best solved by not carrying anything of value in them. As with most other quality features, technical clothing can do much more protection than conventional clothing.

Appearance & style

Will you still look good? You want stylish or classic clothes that have the travel quality features described above.

While you have your personal style, keep in mind that you don’t want to invite every tout, pickpocket, punk and hustler on the street by looking like a tourist. In many destinations there’s no way to hide that you’re a foreigner, but perceptions can be subtly managed to give the impression that you’ve been around for a while and can’t be hustled. Achieving that is 50% attitude and body language and 50% clothing and grooming.

On the streets of Paris, ball caps, Tilley hats, colorful athletic shoes and loose pants with patch pockets and zip-off legs are all marks of a common species, the Wide-Eyed North American Tourist. If you want to blend in, Parisians (and other Europeans) aren’t wearing the latest trend off the catwalk, but they do tend to wear close-fitting urban style clothing.

While technical clothing has many positive features, utility often triumphs over style. Technical shirts and especially pants tend to look “outdoorsy,” with roomy cuts and lots of pockets. They’re more suitable for trekking in the mountains than doing a night on the town. If much of your trip will be spent doing those outdoor activities, then these clothes will work for you.

But most independent travelers spend a lot of time in cities and towns, where you want to look more urban casual than jungle casual. Increasingly, clothing makers are answering the call, even some of the outdoor gear companies that gave us zip-off pant legs.

Some of the quality features that have a powerful effect on appearance include:

• Wrinkle resistance — You don’t want to look like you slept under a bridge… even if you did. Wrinkled and crumpled clothing is the bane of travelers, especially those who overpack and crush their clothes. (No, you are not taking a travel iron!) While there’s no such thing as wrinkle free travel clothes, you want fabric that minimizes wrinkling in the first place, can be smoothed on top of a bed or table or will lose many wrinkles after you put the garment on. Most inexpensive clothing is made of cotton or poly-cotton blends. Cotton wrinkles badly. Technical fabrics, especially polyester-nylon blends, are wrinkle-resistant.
• Fabric durability — (Repeated from “build quality.”) Since travel is so hard on clothing, it’s important that fabrics are strong enough to endure repeated wearing and washing without starting to fray, shine, pop stitches, lose buttons or sag at the knees or elbows. A modest percentage of nylon will strengthen any garment.
• Fit — Sizes listed for clothing are not as standard as they should be. A shirt listed as “Small” on a maker’s website, might be more of a “Medium” after you put it on. If you’re ordering online, give yourself enough time before departure to manage a return-and-replace, just in case the size is off. Some websites offer users opinions of the accuracy of fit.
• Style — This is entirely personal, but it matters! Don’t get a garment that has all kinds of technical merits, except that you don’t like how it looks on you. If your fashion sense runs to elegant, arty or any other statement, most technical clothing will cramp your style. First, check the fabric labels in your closet at home to see if anything you already own is made of “technical” fabrics. If not, consider quality features when shopping the stores and makers you like. 

Value for money

It’s no surprise that value-for-money relates directly to how much you have to spend. If you’re well financed, then buying technical clothes will not be a problem. But, if your budget is tight, you may not be able to buy any new clothes at all and will have to rummage in your closet for the best available garments. If you’re in the middle and could buy some new clothes, there are some issues to consider.

• Duration of your trip — If your trip is just a few weeks, you can probably get by with clothes from your closet. There will be inconveniences, like weight, bulk and slow-drying laundry, but at least you won’t have to put up with those inconveniences for long. However, if you’re going to travel for months, durability, bulk, weight and other technical features matter more.
• Pace — If you’re moving often, every few days perhaps, you’ll want clothes that you can launder and dry overnight.
• Prioritize the base layer and shirts — If you can afford only a few technical garments, go for the base layer first (briefs, boxers, bras, t-shirts, socks). Anything next to your skin, especially your torso, will affect your comfort all day every day, so shirts are important too, if worn without an undershirt. Pants, skirts and outerwear don’t matter so much. Base layer garments are also the clothes that require the most frequent washing and drying.
• Good shoes are worth good money —[stopwatch icon]If you’re lucky, you already have a pair of comfortable and presentable shoes that are sturdy enough to last your trip. If not, it’s worth the money to get high quality everyday walking shoes. It’s the one item we forbid you to buy online! You must go to the store and try them on. (Okay, if you don’t have a good store nearby, you can buy online, but give yourself lots of time to return a pair and try again. And again.) Your everyday walking shoes have to fit perfectly, without any movement or chafing. When you buy new shoes, give yourself enough lead time to break them in, just to be sure. 
• Buy last year’s style — We all know that we can get discounts on last year’s style, especially if it’s being discontinued. Unlike the mainline fashion industry, technical clothes makers’ styles usually last longer than a tub of yogurt, although there’s always some turnover year-to-year. The cut and color may change, but the fabrics usually don’t. So you can get a sweet discount online for last year’s style.
• Buy off-season — This is similar to buying last year’s style. There’s two ways to do it. First, if you have lots of lead time before your trip, you can by off-season. Suppose, it’s autumn in the UK and you intend to go to North America next summer. UK retailers will be unloading their summer stock, so you should be able to score a nice discount. The second method is when your home and destination are in different climate zones. Maybe you’re in the US at the end of summer, intending to go to SE Asia. All those summery clothes in the US should be on discount for your trip to steamy Asia. 

The cost advantage is using clothes you already have, versus buying technical clothes. If you have to buy new clothes anyway, technical clothing won’t compete with discount stores, but they’re comparable to mid-range off-the-rack garments.

• Before you go —  Clothing you buy while traveling in rich middle countries or poor countries is also very cheap, but also often of poor quality. A typical off-the-rack shirt, for example, will have to be replaced several times before a technical shirt wears out.

The best fabrics for travel clothing

Linen was the classic travel fabric because it was light and breathable. Dapper aristocrats wore it on the Grand Tour as they poked among the ruins of Pompeii or posed with camels in front of the pyramids. The photo shows famous actor Cary Grant looking dashing and wrinkled. Linen has to be the wrinkliest fabric there is.

Cotton and cotton blends are what everyone has in their closets. Cotton is very soft and comfortable… until it gets wet. Then it’s miserable. It’s also heavy and takes forever to dry.

The best fabrics for travel clothing are polyester-nylon blends and Merino wool blends. These are not the sweaty synthetics of the 1980s or the itchy wools found in cheap sweaters (jumpers). They are low volume and low weight, durable, breathable, moisture wicking, stain resistant, wrinkle-resistant, fast-drying, and high UPF.

What’s not to like? Poly-nylon is not as soft as pure cotton or poly-cotton blends. Pure nylon, in particular, is not as comfy on the skin as cotton.

Pure cotton is notoriously wrinkly. Although it’s breathable, it tends to retain moisture in the cloth, so it gets damp and clingy in hot weather. It also dries slowly, so your laundry might not be dry the morning after you wash it. Poly-cotton blends alleviate these issues somewhat, but cannot compete with poly-nylon on any performance measure except softness.

Rayon (the polynosic variety, not viscose) also has soft texture and is both wrinkle-resistant and fast drying. However, it doesn’t wick moisture as well as polyester or nylon. It’s not as durable either.

Wool, wool blends and silk have advantages in cold weather. Merino wool is particularly praised as cool in hot weather, warm in cold and doesn’t smell bad when it gets sweaty. Perfect! — except it’s very expensive.

Spandex can be helpful as a small percentage blend to add flexibility, especially to pants. If you consider how hard it is to control your diet during travel, having that flexibility is a blessing.

Technical vs conventional clothing

Should you take clothes you already own or get “technical” travel clothing?

If you’re on a tight budget, there’s no question that you should check your closet first and maybe buy inexpensive new clothes on the road as you need them. But if you want to travel light and nimble, technical clothing will be more comfortable, more durable and easier to maintain.

* Assumes your style preferences cannot be fulfilled by limited range of technical clothing styles.                                          ** Assumes you will take clothing you already own. If you need to buy new clothes, there’s no clear winner on cost, although technical clothes are better value for money than conventional clothes.

Buy clothes while traveling

If you travel for a long time, at least some of your clothing will have to be replaced. Even premium technical clothing won’t last forever.

• Technical clothing — Outside rich countries, technical clothing is hard to find, although you may get lucky in a country where it’s fabricated (China and Vietnam mostly). You can still look for high quality synthetics to emulate some of the benefits of technical clothing.
• Sizing — Depending upon the country you are going to, finding larger or smaller sizes of both clothing and footwear may be a problem. If you’re desperate, especially for footwear, tourist traps often have shops with brand name goods — they will be expensive. In some places you have to watch out for fakes.
• Made to order — In many destinations you can get made-to-order clothing done at an attractive price. For travelers with unusual body sizes and shapes — large men and tall women in SE Asia, for example — that might be the only way to get clothes that fit.

• Swim wear — If swim wear will not be used much, it might not be necessary to bring swimwear from home. Instead, buy something light and cheap at the beach.
• Yes or no on traditional local clothes? — It used to be that the best travel clothing was what the locals wore, since they had long ago figured out what was best for the climate. Unfortunately, that’s not true in most places as local people transition to western style garments that are often incredibly impractical for local conditions. See how many Filipinos love jeans in their hot and humid country. Alas, if you adopt practical traditional clothes in many countries, you’ll be regarded as very odd indeed. Look around and see if other foreigners are wearing traditional local garb. If you do “go local,” don’t forget that your next flight could take you to a place where you can’t wear those clothes any longer. For example, an Indian pajama and kurta will be very unusual in SE Asia.