The thing about frequent comings and goings is that not all adventures are created equal. You don’t always need a large suitcase, though often, a backpack doesn’t feel quite appropriate. What to do when you’re headed out of town for a night two and don’t need to bring much, but want what you do bring to be well-organized and streamlined every time? The answer is the weekender bag – an ingenious style of luggage that often comes in the form of a duffel, always makes it easy to find a fresh t-shirt or pair of pants, and never requires you to stand in that most anxiety-inducing of airport lines (the one where you separate yourself from your belongings).
The duffel is easy to carry even with three days worth of stuff in there. Photo: Tim Wenger
This Weekender Duffel Is Perfect for Short Work Trips
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A good weekender bag accomplishes the task of holding two to three outfits, an extra pair of shoes, toiletries, a few miscellaneous items, and maybe a bomber of that excellent beer you tried while on the road. It also can keep a nice outfit wrinkle-free for a nice dinner or a day in a conference room. There’s no better weekender bag for this than the Halfday Garment Duffel, available now direct from the brand.
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The Halfday Garment Duffel is more than a weekender bag
A nice button down and pair of dress shoes fit perfectly in here. Photo: Tim Wenger
I kept my Birkenstocks hooked in the outside package. Photo: Tim Wenger
The Halfday Garment Duffel is a unique hybrid bag that combines the features of a garment bag and a duffel bag. It is perfect for travelers who need to pack a suit or dress for a business trip, but also want to bring other clothes and belongings. The bag is also ideal for weekend trips or short getaways.
This bag is actually a cross between an apparel garment sleeve and a traditional weekender duffel. It unzips entirely to reveal a suit-sized zipped apparel sleeve, complete with a hanger hook, in which to keep a nice suit or shirt and pants separated from the rest of your stuff. I took my finest button-down shirt and a pair of slacks with me on a recent work-centric road trip and, for the first time in forever, didn’t have to use the ironing board in my hotel room. Both items remained wrinkle-free and looked sharp at a fancy-pants dinner event.
Once I zipped the apparel sleeve and reformed the duffel into a functional packaging space, I loaded three shirts, one pair of shorts and a pair of jeans, three pairs of socks and underwear, my toiletry bag, a book, a laptop and charger, and a windbreaker into the duffel. In the interior shoe pockets I brought my slippers for the hotel room. In the outside zipped pocket, I put my pair of Birkenstocks, and though they stuck out a bit, they never actually fell out. There was still some room to spare on the interior, so I brought along an extra hat, as well.
My biggest pet peeve with luggage is when you think you’ve completed the task of packing, only to find that you can’t get the dang thing zipped or fastened. That was certainly not the case with the Halfday Garment Duffel. I zipped it closed in a matter of seconds, and connected the two top straps to form the handle. Piece of cake. Granted, I’d only packed for a few easy days of travel, but I was quite pleased with the sub-10-minute packing time.
Ok, the Halfday Garment Duffel packs well. How about style?
The duffel is easy to carry even with three days worth of stuff in there. Photo: Tim Wenger
It's small but mighty. Photo: Tim Wenger
As a journalist who reviews travel gear on a regular basis, I’ve come to believe that the world has too many backpacks, suitcases, and the like. There are only so many ways you can reinvent the wheel. But what the years of excessive product development have given us – finally – is travel bags that actually look good without sacrificing functionality. The Halfday Garment Duffel is the epitome of this. The brand offers color schemes like “Palm” (which, as you guessed, features a palm-tree pattern), cactus, marine, and camo, among others. I opted for “Shadow,” an off-black mono-color scheme that looks both modern and minimalist. I liked it immediately upon receiving the bag in the post. It contrasts most travel environments from airports to hotel rooms to city centers at large in a manner that doesn’t draw attention to the fact that you’re not from around here. From afar it nearly looks like a gym bag, a good thing for not attracting unwanted attention, though up close it appears far more formal.
The bag carries well and easily via the attached shoulder strap. It can sit on your lap on public transit without discomfort. It fits into tiny hotel room closets or underneath the seat in front of you on a plane. This is, perhaps, the Halfday Garment Duffel’s greatest strength – that it can carry your formal and casual attire, along with a laptop and other gear for work and leisure, while still managing to relieve any fret about securing overhead bin space. It isn’t enough for long trips (unless you’re that person who wears the same clothes every day), but it’s perfect for small getaways, whether by road or air.
Shopping for a travel duffel bag? Check out Matador’s detailed duffel bag reviews:
Halfday Garment Duffel specs
Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty details. The Halfday Garment Duffel is made from durable and water-resistant materials, and it is lightweight and easy to carry. I found myself in a light afternoon rainstorm where I briefly had to carry the bag from a car into my accommodations, and while the outside of the bag was slightly damp, no water got inside.
It also folds completely flat when not in use, which makes it easy to store. The bag has a number of useful features, including a fully unzippable garment compartment, two interior shoe pockets, and a handy exterior zip pocket. It also has reinforced metal hanger loops and a trolley sleeve for securing to suitcase handles.
Overall, the Halfday Garment Duffel is a well-designed and versatile bag that is perfect for travelers who need to pack a suit or dress, but also want to bring other clothes and belongings. 
- Dimensions: 22″ x 12″ x 12″ (when closed)
- Volume: 45 liters
- Weight: 2.3 pounds
- Shell: Durable and water-resistant 420D woven polyester
- Lining: Water-resistant taslan
- Fully unzips into a garment bag
- Fits a full suit up to 48R or dress + 3 days’ worth of clothes
- Two interior shoe pockets that fit up to a men’s size 13 shoe each
- Durable and lightweight
- Folds completely flat when not in use
- High-tensile-strength woven polyester handles with padded wrap and shoulder strap
- Handy exterior zip pocket
- Reinforced metal hanger loop with velcro flap
- Carry-on-friendly on most major airlines