One of my favorite travel brands of the year is Sherpani.
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The company was started in the early 2000s, meaning it’s got plenty of experience creating functional bags for active women. Most recently, Sherpani has taken on travel-ready bags that come with anti-theft features and other unique innovations that make them seamless for complex trips.
Recently, I also covered the brand’s tinier products, from toiletry cases to crossbody bags to neck pouches. In short, if you’re looking for robust, use-driven travel bags, Sherpani should be on your radar.
But what about a highly specialized bag like a garment duffel? While I usually avoid duffels because they’re cumbersome and basic, the Sherpani Jaunt Garment Duffel is anything but. Here’s what I loved about using the garment duffel on a week-long getaway on Spain’s Costa Brava.
Disclaimer: Sherpani provided me with a Jaunt Garment Duffel (in the gorgeous Ciao print), but all views (and rave reviews) are my own. You can shop for the product directly on their site or via Amazon. It comes in eight different prints.
6 reasons to get your hands on a garment duffel from Sherpani
Easy packing, easier unpacking
If you’ve never heard of a garment duffel, let me break it down. The interior includes a specialized compartment where you can lay clothes flat rather than fold them. They’re secured using a belt or elastic piece, then rolled into place to keep clothes clean and wrinkle-free.
(I’m torn between comparing the bag to a Transformer and a Fruit Roll-Up. At the bottom of this article, you can see images of my bag alongside my standard chihuahua for scale. It shows how the bag zips and unzips.)
The Sherpani Jaunt Garment Duffel unzips and unrolls from either side, revealing a long compartment where you’ll store your clothes. (The compartment has two straps for you to fix your garments into place, then a zipper to protect them. In short, it’s extremely easy to lay out your clothes in the garment slot.
Easy packing aside, what stood out to me was how easy the garment duffel was to unpack at my destination. I unzipped the bag, then unzipped the garment slot—and all my clothes were waiting for me exactly how I left them… without any wrinkles, too.
Space-saving features are built in
The second thing that impressed me about the Sherpani Jaunt Garment Duffel was how much I could fit into the bag. It’s not a small duffel by any stretch, but the large garment pocket covers the bag’s interior lining, meaning once you’ve zipped the bag up, your clothes are invisible—all you’re left with is a duffel with plenty of space.
The bag also includes four interior pockets for easy organization. I kept my socks, swimsuits, and underwear in one of the mesh pockets, then used the other for toiletries. There’s also an exterior pocket that I used to keep my phone and AirPods in reach.
Seriously, there’s a lot of room
I can’t emphasize this enough: the Sherpani Jaunt Garment Duffel had way more room than I was expecting. For my week-long trip, I packed two pairs of pants, three skirts, three shirts, and two dresses, along with three pairs of (small) sandals. That’s not counting the toiletries I brought, or my swimsuits/underwear… or the three books I also brought with me.
(To clarify: this was a summer trip, so the clothes I brought were lightweight—I doubt I’d be able to fit as much in the bag during a winter trip to Poland, for example. Still, the bag does not skimp on space.)
Clothes are protected from wrinkles
Garment duffels and garment bags are usually reserved for business travelers or anyone heading to a destination wedding. For this reason, I never considered buying one. However, I was impressed by how wrinkle-free my clothes were after unpacking—both at my destination and then back at home.
In both cases, my clothes were ready to be worn without any major wrinkles. I also like that the garment slot zips up, protecting my clothes from anything else in the bag. That’s useful for toiletries, along with dirt and grime from shoes or athletic gear. The compartment rolls to keep your clothes free of any hard lines, then protects them with its recycled polyester lining. It’s a great setup.
You have multiple carrying options
Here’s another reason I’ve shied away from garment bags: they’re usually duffels. Duffel bags are often heavy and, the larger they are, the more difficult they are to carry around. However, the Sherpani Jaunt Garment Duffel makes it easy to carry thanks to its dual strap setup.
You can carry it by its sturdy handles or use the adjustable strap for a shoulder or crossbody setup. Most importantly, however, the duffel bag has a trolley sleeve. That meant I didn’t carry it once—I slotted the bag on top of my partner’s rolling carry-on after getting off the train and, suddenly, we were at our hotel.
Final thoughts: Beginner-friendly and frequent flyer-approved
Lastly, what stood out to me about the Sherpani Jaunt Garment Duffel was that it still felt novel and useful to me after two decades of travel. I was pleasantly surprised by how thought-out its features were, making it a pleasure to use. (I’m a travel nerd, so, yes, bags can be a pleasure to pack, use, and unpack.)
But the garment duffel isn’t geared toward experienced travelers—it’s also great for greener travelers, especially those who struggle with packing and organization. If you’re particular about your clothes, have nice pieces you want to preserve, and don’t want to iron or steam at your destination, the garment duffel’s benefits speak for themselves.
Here are images of my Sherpani Jaunt Garment Duffel, including my chihuahua for scale:
