Pouch to air dry clothes on the go

When I did a lot of camping, I would just hang wet clothes on the backpack and secure it with the compression straps. Using anything (e.g. laundry mesh bag) else just adds weight. Every ounce counts.

Packing only quick-drying clothes is your best defense but other than hanging damp items off your pack, you can also wear them. Unless you are hiking in wet or cold conditions, they'll probably dry much more quickly ON you than bundled into a bag of any kind. This would not work for thicker socks but should for shirts and pants.

I've never seen a bag specifically for drying hiking clothes while on the move, likely because they may not dry very well unless spread out. A mesh laundry bag for machine-washing delicates would be the only option I can think of, and would still involve bundling to some extent.

Where do you live? If there is a higher-end home goods store called Daiso in your area, go there and grab a few laundry nets. Daiso is a Japanese chain of home goods stores selling many things whose quality definitely surpasses that of stuff sold by Target and sometimes even Crate and Barrel.

When backpacking in the Sierras for 6 weeks, I used a small mesh bag with drawstrings to hold the still-damp clothing or towel on the outside of my backpack. I let it swing freely with air circulation all around, rather than strap it to the pack, which would slow the drying time.

We would start each 2-week segment of the long hike with a fresh loaf of Sheepherder bread from the famous Schat’s bakery, carried in another mesh bag dangling from the other side of my pack. I was probably a strange site to others we passed on the trail, but the aroma of the bread always drew comments.

I am sure you can find suitable mesh bags on Amazon. Mine was a small one meant for lingerie, not a bath large enough for a whole load of laundry.

Check REI or other outdoor camping supply places for such net bags. But I am skeptical that wet clothes will dry any better being scrunched up in a mesh bag than in your luggage and let out at next destination.

Can you fit this in your luggage?

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/slibb-hang-dryer-24-clothespins-40527076/

The mesh bags are easily found at Target, Fred Meyer, Container Store, etc. I have a multitude of these bags and use them for laundry at home as well as when we are backpacking etc. I am taking two along on our camper van trip next month. When backpacking with wet clothes, we have attached them to the outside of the pack, but in several spots so they are not flailing around while we are hiking. It works pretty well. If an item is small though, the mesh pockets on the side work well too. Get a few very small carabiners to attach the clothing to the pack in a few spots.

I assume we are talking about clothes that are “damp-dry”’ not sopping wet. That is, they have been sink-washed in the evening, wrung out, and then pressed between layers of towels to remove as much water as possible, and then hung up in an airy place overnight. Some fabrics (cotton especially) mayb still be damp in the morning, so you wouldn’t want to put them inside the suitcase. The mesh bag on the outside should work fine in this situation.