Travel Tips

Travel Tuesday: Halfday Garment Duffle Review

Have you ever been served ads for a product on Instagram so often that you eventually break down and buy it? As a personal finance blogger, this is not a practice I can endorse. However, as someone who reviews products, I have much more tolerance for allowing myself to give in (#content). That’s what happened to me with the Halfday Garment Bag, leading me to order one for myself when I realized I was running low on Travel Tuesday topics.

Seeing as the Halfday bag is still new to me and I haven’t taken it on a proper trip yet, I thought I’d test it in some other ways. So, let’s take a look at what the Halfday Garment Bag is, what makes it different, and why I’ve learned about it so far.

Reviewing the Halfday Garment Duffle Bag

What is the Halfday Garment Bag?

The Halfday Garment Duffle is an interestingly constructed bag with a garment bag (for formal wear and the like) at the bottom that folds up to be a fully-sized carry-on bag that can hold all the rest of your clothes and other items. Additionally, the bag includes two shoe pockets. While this may not be the only bag to have such a design, it is the one I’ve seen the most often. Thus, I went ahead and bought it.

Pricing

When you log onto the Halfday site, you’ll see that the Garment Duffle is listed at $98. But, there’s good news as that price includes free shipping. Moreover, if you look around the usual places, you’ll likely be able to find a coupon code that can help you save a bit of money on your purchase. In my case, I was able to find a coupon for 20% off, bringing my subtotal to $78.40 and grand total (after tax) to $83.38.

Color options

If you like variety, it’s nice to know that the Halfday Garment Duffle comes in three colors:

• Marine Blue
• Hunter Green
• Deep Crimson

Personally, we went with the Marine Blue, although the Deep Crimson did tempt me. While this one is likely the most “low-key” of the option, I think it looks nice.

Size

After unboxing my bag, I was a bit surprised by how large it was. Granted, even with the dimensions listed, I’m absolutely terrible at judging the size of items. Ultimately, while this bag would surely fit in most airplane overhead bins, it probably would not fit under most airplane seats if it was more than half full.

Looking at some actual stats, the bag measures 22″ x 12″ x 12″. According to Halfday, the garment bag portion can be used for a jacket up to a size 50R, the shoe bags hold up to a size 13, and the overall bag has a volume of 45 liters. Unpacked, the bag weighs a total of 2.3 pounds.

The build

When my bag arrived, I did look it over to make sure there wasn’t any fraying or issues. Luckily, everything seemed to be just fine. On that note, I do like the feel of the fabric on the exterior but I especially love the interior. Also, the zippers on the bag feel nice and definitely do the job, even if they don’t feel quite as “premium” as those on the Away bags (granted, those bags also cost a lot more). Similarly, the clips for the shoulder strap are plastic instead of metal, which does save some weight but also feels a little cheap IMHO. Still, overall, it looks to be fairly well-made to me.

Packing the bag

As I mentioned, seeing as I haven’t taken any trips since getting my Halfday bag, I decided to just pretend. To test the bag, I opted to prepare for a fictional week-long trip. Moreover, apparently, I’ll need a full suit on this non-existent trip, so I made sure to fit one of those in as well.

Here’s what I packed in the bag:

• 7 T-shirts (including one long-sleeved)
• 2 pairs of jeans
• 7 pairs of underwear
• 7 pairs of socks
• 1 hoodie
• 1 full suit
• 1 button-up shirt
• 1 tie
• 1 extra pair of shoes
• 1 Away toiletry bag

Above is the photo I took when I first tried just putting these items in the bag in a way that I thought made sense. However, I also decided to repack using some of my favorite packing cubes to see if that greatly cleaned things up. Here’s how that looked:

Clearly, everything fit just fine — especially when I used the packing cubes. Also, after you open the main flap, everything is fairly accessible, which may actually be an advantage over a traditional suitcase or duffel bag. That said, I don’t love that some of my socks just have to get shoved on top and kind of wish there was a separate, netted area for them. Other than that, though, I really liked how easy it was to pack and unpack the bag or just leave it open and take one item at a time.

By the way, I left my packed bag sitting on the floor overnight and checked in on it nearly 24 hours later to see how my suit looked. Sure enough, it held up great, with not a wrinkle to be found. For that reason, if I ever need to bring formal wear with me, this would be a great asset.

Final Thoughts on the Halfday Garment Bag

Overall, I think the Halfday Garment Duffle is a nice bag with a clever design. Plus, despite the name that implies it’s made for short trips, the bag is plenty large enough to hold a week’s worth of clothes — including a dress outfit and change of shoes — assuming you don’t need a lot of layers. Because of this, I foresee myself taking on many future road trips.

Why road trips specifically? There are a few reasons for that, starting with the size. Even though the bag didn’t feel too heavy after I packed it and tried lifting it, I really don’t want to have to lug it around an airport (while also carrying a backpack). Plus, although you may be able to fit a 3-1-1 bag in the side pocket or position your toiletry bag in an easily accessible way, neither strikes me as a great option, making for a slight hassle at TSA. For those reasons, I’ll be sticking with my roller bag for air travel.

So, is the Halfday bag worth the price? I think that will depend on how (and how much) you plan to use it. Personally, I do think $100 is a bit steep for my anticipated usage — although the coupon I found that took it down to $78 before taxes feels a bit better. Still, I am excited to use the bag and see how it holds up. Plus, if I can avoid having to hang a suit in the backseat of my car, that’s a big win for me. With that, I’ll be sure to report back on my continued experience with the Halfday garment duffle.

Other Articles by Kyle Burbank