Men's clothing....is cotton ALWAYS bad??

I sometimes bring a cotton shirt or two, but to keep them clean I wear a synthetic t-shirt underneath. Lately, though, I've just been bringing synthetic shirts since they dry without wrinkles and dry overnite. When you wash clothes in the sink and hang them to dry on your clothesline, there is no dryer...

REI has a huge store in Dallas, according to their website http://www.rei.com/stores/45 They carry lots of clothing perfect for travel, including pants that look like khakis but are synthetic. Go there and see what they have. I buy my travel stuff at the local REI (pants, shirts, underwear, socks, etc)

Skip, Have a look at LLBean, or just go to the best hiking/camping etc store in town. The store people will be able to tell you about laundry care. Your wrinkle free shirts sound fine anyway. Just hang them on a hanger to drip dry. There should be a tag on the side seam to give washing instructions. If all else fails, enjoy the slightly crumpled look ;-). Relax and enjoy your holiday.

There's nothing wrong with the slacks you already wear. Many of those styles are, as you said, made to be wrinkle free and stain resistant. And in all honesty, how often are you going to try to hand wash pants? Cotton is fine. I take what I wear all the time -- no special fabrics required. (I don't like the feel of microfiber.)

A trick I use is to grab a part of a shirt and then crumple it in your hand for a few seconds. When you release it, smooth the part you have deliberately wrinkled. This will give you an indication of how wrinkled a shirt will be after laundering. Do some comparisons and you will see what I mean. Also, a shirt with a small check or plaid will help to hide wrinkles A light weight shirt that passes the wrinkle test can be laundered in the sink and hung up on a blow up hanger. Men's pants are harder. You are on the right track with your wrinkle resistant stain resistant fabrics. A cotton/polyester blend will dry more quickly and show less wrinkles. Pants can be worn for at least 2-3 times and save you from doing laundry so often. Hanging your clothing up and spraying it with water can relax wrinkles. Get a tiny spray bottle you can pack empty in your bags.

Hi Skip, I wear almost nothing that isn't cotton because of the comfort, especially in hot weather. We always travel in Europe for at least 5 weeks, so we don't have to obsess about the time involved in a visit to a laundromat. We also rent apartments for three of the five weeks so we can hand wash and hang up our things; they don't have to dry in 6 hours.

Thanks for all the replys so far. I have another question, if I may. What is the best way to hang pants to dry, especially how do you hang them to reduce wrinkles? If I use inflatable hangers for the shirts, that still leaves the pants. Do you hang them from the RS clothesline? If so, do you hang them by the waist, or by the end of the legs?

The good news is I can finally pack a carry-on with no cotton. The bad news is I learned the hard way why cotton doesn't work well for travel.

It's not just handwashing. If you visit a laundrymat occasionally, cotton will take longer to dry. It will either cost more (time and money) or you will make due with an arm load of damp clothes.

Cotton loses it's shape. Whether you take jeans or dockers. The waistband will stretch, the butt and knees (or shirt elbows) will bag with bending. Hang drying won't bring the shape back. Your pants will look saggy until you machine wash and fully machine dry them.

Cotton doesn't insulate when wet. Whether by sweat or rain - if cotton gets wet, it won't keep you warm. Guides in Alaska, Canada and the Rockies tell their charges, "Cotton Kills" because of this.

Cotton weighs more and is bulkier than other fabrics. You can carry more options with less bulk and weight if you leave your cotton at home.

So where do you buy no cotton travel clothes? I get most of my clothes at JC Penny, Macy's or sporting goods stores. They have a lot of choices and regular sale prices. You have to read every label.

Shirts - I like to take long sleeve casual button up shirts and colored t-shirts to layer. My favorites are Tencil, Polynesic, Rayon or Washable Silk, often blended with Polyester. 100% Polyester shirts travel well but often don't have the soft feel or breathability of other choices. I've had good results at Nordstrom Rack and Cabela's online.

Pants - I'm really happy with my microfiber Dockers. They have a hidden zippered pocket and a weave that feels like a traditional khaki. I also like my IZOD microfiber golf pants. I paid under $40 each at Macy's on sale. I wear them all the time but bought them to pack.

I like underarmour underwear, but there are other no-cotton brands that work equally well.

Continued --

Socks - Since I normally wear Dockers, button-up shirt and walking shoes, black crew socks are what I pack. It's easy to find Acrylic "fluffy" crew socks. I don't think they are as durable as other socks but they work well for travel. Depending on what you like to wear, a wool or wool-blend hiking sock may be best. Costco, Nordstrom Rack, Filene's basement and sporting good stores have good deals.

Sweaters - My favorite travel sweater is a light weight washable wool crew neck. But I usually pack light weight Acrylic sweaters because most wool sweaters are dry-clean only. For sweaters you not only have to read the label for material, you also have to read the care instructions.

Jacket - A non-lined wind and rain shell with a hood packs well and keeps you dry while the layers beneath keep you warm. Look at Cabela's online for a good selection on sale. Make sure Cabela's lists the jacket as 100% water proof.

Hopefully this helps a little. Have a great trip.

I usually wash my pants at a laundramat half way into a month long trip.

To hang dry, hang from the waist. It will dry first. If it's not fully dry in the morning damp leg bottoms aren't nearly as uncomfortable as the alternative.

Wear rather than pack damp pants. They will finish drying quickly when worn and won't dampen the rest of your bag.

try it at home. take a pair out of the washer and hang up to dry. Then decide if they dry in an acceptable time and look presentable enough for you. Dryers are available in Europe but they are hard to find and pricey if you do.

Brad, you said "I usually wash my pants at a laundramat half way into a month long trip."

Does this mean your slacks last two weeks between cleaning? Or that you are successful with hand washing them during that time?

In addition to inflatable hangers, I brought several plastic hangers that had clips for hanging pants. They are great for handwashing. They are light, don't take up much room and you can leave them behind when you go home! When we travel during the summer my husband takes pants he got at REI, including a pair that zipped off into shorts. He took one pair of Dockers, but we didn't try handwashing them...:)

Skip I think he brings more then one pair of pants, so if he brought three or four pairs, that means he wears them about 3-4 days each, which is fine unless you do something unique to dirty them.
I am a woman and I can easily wear slacks three or four days, of course this means bringing darker colors no white capris for me!

Pat, thanks! I agree, no white capris for me either!! ;)

When I wrote that I had just read Brad's posts in the trail of answrs to "what to wear for men". He'd said there he packs two pairs of pants, that post was on my mind when I asked the question...but your note makes a lot of sense!

Sorry...I'm a newbie to this "traveling light" thing!?!?!?

;)
Skip

Skip....I find that anything that's a 60-40 cotton-synthetic mix dries overnight after washing, and comes out wrinkle-free. I can't handle micro-fibre or other complete synthetics because I generate a lot of heat, and it can't escape properly. I've tried every synthetic known to mankind, and on a hot day in southern Spain, I would simply collapse and die (even with those that say they are "breathable.") As for slacks, I simply wrap a towel around a hangar a couple of times, then drape the slacks over that....no crease.

I bring two pairs of pants, a pair of swim trunks/shorts and a very light pair of warm up pants. The pants usually do fine for two weeks. I do put dryer sheets in my bag to keep things reasonably fresh. I also bring a small spray bottle of fabreeze. If I go out in a smokey place, I spray and hang up the pants overnight. I keep my pants and button up shirts hung up as much as possible.

If I spill something on my pants (amazingly, it doesn't happen often) we also bring the stain remover stick (I think Tide).

My handwashing is normally a pair of socks and underwear per day. I also wash a t-shirt about every other day. The big change from home is I change socks and underwear before dinner instead of in the morning, wash and hang the dirty ones so they are good to wear or pack the next day.

I travel almost exclusively outside of summer, so I'm rarely overheated and sweating.

Cotton is a bit harder to wash by hand and it doesn't dry quickly.
Microfiber or polyester (nylon) are the best clothes for travel. Very easy to wash and they dry in a few hours.
Microfiber is a thin polyester type of material, no cotton in it.
When you buy them in the store look at the fabric they are made of. IF it's not cotton, it's easy to wash.
I got some tshirts that have some cotton in it, about 10-15% and it takes longer to dry than the ones that are made 100% of nylon.
Macy's has nice workout clothes you can use for your travels.
Columbia is good too, if you have a Dicks sporting goods in your area check there.
Exficco is really good, but more expensive.
Last year I found Columbia women shirts and tshirts at TJ Max for under $10 each.

I think what you are describing sounds just fine. They are lightweight, so they should dry pretty well. I would avoid polyester and nylon at all cost. What could be more miserable than sweating in them! Cotton is the best, just have it light weight. Nothing beats the comfort of cotton!

Well, I found Dockers "microfiber" khaki's at Kohls, they cost $28. That's only a few dollars more then the cotton version from Dockers, and they are marked as wrinkle resistant and have stain guard in them. I just got home, and I'm going to try them out by washing them before I turn in and hanging them overnight.

We'll see !!!!!!!!!!!!!

A special thank you to Brad for all of his incredible help and advice...

Hey Brad....THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

;)))))))

Actually, whether cotton is easy to wash and dry overnight depends a lot on how thick it is. I like wearing thinner, loose cotton clothing when traveling in hot and humid climes, and find they're usually easy to wash in the sink and dry overnight - 2 nights at most.

There are a few outdoor clothiers that make great T-shirts and other clothes using newly design cotton with "Dri-Balance" or "3X-DRY" finish - they do indeed dry super fast. ROyal RObbins, PRANA, and others are some examples I have. Its mostly cotton with a little synth. for support etc at the edge - but they work great. Just used them in Spain/Portugal and they dry in very little time and still feel like real cotton (cuz they are!)