the right fabric

Sheep near Queenstown, New Zealand, 2016

I mention specific clothing brands in this post; these are just my particular favorites. I am not employed or affiliated with any of these brands in any way, other than as a paying customer. Also, the topics of ethical and sustainable fashion, as well as the issues related to plastics in clothing, are important to this conversation but also too huge to discuss here, so I am only going to focus on packing light.

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Following up on my post about minimal packing, let’s talk about clothes because this is where people really seem to struggle with overpacking. First, people pack way too much, and second, clothes can be really bulky.

In my last post, I talked about laundry and not packing too much, plus the wonders of packing cubes, so now I’m going to focus on the right fabrics to pack. Specifically, I’m going to talk about what makes it easy to pack light.

I am a big fan of performance fabrics, particularly the kinds that are lightweight and non-bulky. This includes petroleum-based fabrics (such as poly/spandex blends and nylon) and merino wool jersey.

Rapid dry fabrics have revolutionized clothing over the past couple of decades. Examples include nylon knit tank tops, spandex leggings, and nylon/lycra hiking pants. These fabrics are lightweight and easy to pack. Even better, they dry quickly. For our trip to Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe in 2019, rapid-dry fabrics¹ were very helpful, as we were hand-washing our clothes every couple of days.

Clothing made of these fabrics can pack really, really small and weigh almost nothing, both of which are especially important if you are flying on a budget airline with very strict carry-on restrictions. My husband has both standard cotton cargo shorts and feather-light nylon shorts and the differences in weight and bulk are significant.

I don’t wear as much of this type of fabric as I used to or as my husband does because it often makes me hot and sweaty. I once had a terrific travel dress that was made of a feather-light woven polyester with a hint of stretch. Best of all, the dress had amazing pockets, including a hidden zippered pocket that was large enough to hold a passport. Unfortunately, the dress did not breathe well and I eventually stopped wearing it.

One brand that does work well for me is Nuu-Muu, which is an American, woman-owned, ethically-run company that makes terrific athletic dresses. The dresses pack really, really small and wash and dry quickly. And yes, they have pockets. The fabric is a poly/spandex blend that performs well for my usual athletic activities (cycling, long walks, and hiking) and can be both worn as a bathing suit coverup or, if necessary, as a bathing suit.

And then there is wool, which is my absolute favorite fabric, specifically merino wool jersey. It’s lightweight, non-bulky, breathable, and doesn’t stink. Merino is surprisingly comfortable and cool in warm weather. In fact, I find that it’s better than cotton knits, because merino wicks away sweat, whereas cotton just gets wet and clammy, which is not only uncomfortable, it causes chafing. I no longer have any cotton t-shirts and rarely buy any cotton knit clothing.

Here’s one example of the huge differences between cotton and merino: When I was a runner, I started off with cotton, poly, and cotton/poly socks. My feet would sweat, which made them and my sneakers stink, and I frequently got blisters on long runs. Once I switched to merino socks, I never had issues with stink or blisters again, even when I was running distances of 10-13.1 mile distances. And no lie, in the decade or so since I’ve started wearing only wool socks, I’ve never had an issue with smelly sneakers again.

At this point, I can almost wear merino from top to bottom: t-shirts, dresses, leggings/pants, underwear, and socks.² From day to day, I wear mostly merino wool knits, other wool sweaters, my Nuu-Muu dresses, some linen in the summer, jeans³, and a few assorted other woven cotton items.

My husband wears merino knits too, and we both have found that with everything except underwear⁴, we can wear those garments multiple times without worrying about them getting smelly. In fact, in 2022 I participated in Wool&’s 100-day dress challenge (Google it), wherein I wore the same dress for 100 consecutive days. Yes, the dress was laundered, but usually only once a week, as opposed to more often. Other “Woolies” have gone much longer between washing their dresses and other merino clothes, sometimes more like once a month.

Let’s talk about underwear. I personally only wear merino underwear⁵ at this point, which I know sounds like it might be itchy or warm or somehow more comfortable, but I have found that it’s lightweight, breathable, and silky-soft. My husband has a combo of cotton knits, performance knit fabrics⁶, and merino wool⁷. He agrees that merino is the most comfortable of the fabrics.

As for brands, here’s what the two of us have in our wardrobes currently:

• Allbirds: I prefer Allbirds sneakers over all other brands because they are comfortable, lightweight, and breathable. They have removable insoles, which is great for people who need orthotics.

• Darn Tough Vermont: We have a few pairs of their socks and like the quality and comfort. Will definitely buy more. (See notes about Smartwool below.)

• Ibex: My most favorite sweater was made by Ibex and I’ve had it for years. It is tunic-length, full zip-front, and long enough to cover my butt. It’s incredibly warm, but the knit is so lightweight that when the sweater was delivered to my house, the box was the length and width of a woman’s shoe box but only half the depth. This one has traveled around the world with me.

• Icebreaker: See notes about my husband’s underwear above. I also have my eye on some pants by this brand.

• Smartwool: We both have Smartwool socks that we’ve worn for years. I darn socks as needed and I have a couple of pairs I’ve worn for 10 years. I’m not wild about the quality of the newer socks, so I’m not sure if we’ll buy more in the future. We also have some Smartwool hats and gloves but we don’t wear other Smartwool clothes because their sizing is smaller and trimmer and not at all inclusive of larger bodies.

• Smitten Merino: I have had a couple of dresses from this brand, but found the merino to be slightly less soft than other brands and the prices were higher.

• Woolly: My husband really likes his Woolly underwear and how his one Woolly shirt feels and fits, but we are both disappointed with the quality of the shirt’s fabric, which started pilling the first time he wore it. We’ll be looking at other brands in the future.

• Wool& (women only): I have dresses, t-shirts, leggings, shorts, and trousers. I really like this company and will buy more from them. This company is much more size-inclusive than other brands and plans to continue to expand their size offerings.

• Woolx: I have dresses, t-shirts, and underwear. Again, a company I like a lot and will shop with in the future. Their sizing is so-so for inclusiveness and goes up to only an XL or XXL, depending on the garment.

• Other brands: We are also interested in trying Nui Organics Unbound Merino, and Wool&Prince (men).

Caring for merino knits is easy. For everything except underwear, I’ll hang up and air out items in between wearings. When I do laundry, I wash everything except socks in the delicates/hand wash cycle in my washer, then hang dry. Sometimes I will use the dryer on the delicates cycle but mostly I don’t because hang-drying makes my clothes last longer and uses less energy. If I hang dry a dress, shirt, or leggings in the evening, they’ll be dry and ready to go in the morning.

We have to talk about the cost of merino knit clothing. It is definitely more expensive up front and I acknowledge my privilege that I am able to invest money in these clothes. I started by buying socks for running, then slowly branched out into other styles as my non-wool socks wore out. I moved on to my first wool t-shirt and have accumulated more over the intervening years. Ditto dresses, underwear and leggings. When I buy something, I usually think about it for weeks or months first. My wool wardrobe has been years in the making.

On the other hand, with proper care and occasional mending, merino knits will last for years. I have one long-sleeve t-shirt that I have worn easily a few hundred times. It’s now patched at the elbows and a few other places but it otherwise still going strong. My husband’s cotton socks rarely last more than a year but he’s had his merino socks for years.

Getting back to packing, when we travel, both my husband and I usually pack a mixture of wool and plastic-based clothes. A lot depends on the weather where we’re going and what we’ll doing, but neither one of us has yet managed to pack only wool or only plastic-based. They both have their uses and a lot of it comes down personal preference.

Most important, it’s these clothes that have helped enable us to pack really light when we travel.

What about you? What are your favorite fabrics when you travel? Are you able to pack carry-on only?

1. Old Navy for him and Athleta for me.

2. The absence is merino bras, which I’m having difficulty finding in my size and preferred styles.

3. We don’t typically pack jeans for travel, but if we do, we wear them on the plane in order to cut down on bulk in our backpacks.

4. Theoretically we could wear underwear multiple times in between washes but we don’t. I’ve heard of people who do but that’s not an experiment we’re going to try.

5. Woolx is my favorite brand.

6. ExOfficio is his favorite brand.

7. He prefers Icebreaker and Woolly.