I Tested the Viral Garment Duffel Bag - Is it Worth it?

The garment duffel bag has been coming across my FYP for a while now. I used to scroll right past, but since I am now on the hunt for a new carry-on bag I wanted to see if this bag actually lives up to the hype. The bag I purchased was from Amazon and came in a 3-piece set with a toiletry bag and small packing cube. Upon initial examination, the bag actually seems to be great quality. The fabric is heavy duty and the zippers are large and all functional. There are multiple pockets on both the inside and outside of the bag with a shoe compartment that can hold multiple pairs of shoes. This bag can be carried as a backpack or shoulder bag and advertises that it can hold clothes for 3-5 days. Let’s see if that’s true.

The Test

I will be packing as if I am leaving for a five day trip somewhere in Texas. This means I will need to pack for warm weather with a mix of casual and dress casual clothing for five days as well as all toiletries and undergarments needed. I’m looking to see if everything needed for a five day trip will fit in the bag and if the bag still meets carry-on requirements after it’s packed. I am attempting to fit the following items in this bag;

• skirt

• maxi dress

• 3 blouses

• 2 pairs of leggings

• 2 T-shirts

• pair of jeans

• 2 tank tops

• additional pair of shoes

• multi-use charger

• dirty clothes bag

• toiletries bag (not using the one in the set as it is a little small)

• hair accessories bag

• undergarments for 5 days (using the packing cube that came with the garment duffel bag)

• travel jewelry box

I also always pack a sweater, but that can be carried separately on the airplane and not count as a personal item so I am leaving that out for now.

Let’s Pack and Measure

The way the bag works, you have to pack the garment bag and the pockets on the outside of the garment bag first. I placed the skirt, dress and three blouses in the garment bag. The blouses fit perfectly, but obviously the dress and skirt were too long so they had to be folded. To avoid a hard crease, I placed the skirt and dress in first, put the blouses on top and then wrapped the dress and skirt around the bottom of the blouses. After zipping the garment bag, I placed my charger and jewelry box in the two outer pockets and then started zipping up the bag to form the duffel. To make the most of your duffel bag space, I recommend filing the shoe compartment next. I placed one pair of sneakers in there with plenty of room to spare. Everything else was then arranged in the duffel bag and then I zipped the bag closed. All items listed in the previous section fit into the bag perfectly and there was even a little room to spare as well as empty pockets on the outside of the duffel. Upon measuring the packed bag, it exactly met the size requirements for a carry-on (22” x 14” x 9”). Click here to read more about carry-on rules. So is the bag worth buying? The short answer is yes, but there are some caveats and notes to this bag I want to address.

Notes

I was absolutely stunned when I was able to pack for five days in that garment duffel bag. My expectations were pretty low, but I am so excited to have a new carry-on for smaller trips. That being said, keep these things in mind;

• What you can fit in the bag will depend on what you pack - I was able to fit five days worth of my summer clothes, but I don’t know that I could pack that much of winter clothes in the same bag. It will also depend on how much you overpack for a trip. You won’t know if everything will fit for sure until you start packing the bag.

• Don’t use plastic hangers for the garment bag - Plastic hangers added a lot of bulk and the garment loop only held five plastic hangers. I would highly recommend getting thin metal hangers to make the most use of the garment bag.

• There is potentially no dimensional wiggle room - Since the packed bag measured out to the exact carry-on requirements, there would be no wiggle room for me to purchase items while on vacation to pack in my carry-on for the return journey. If you are planning to also bring a personal item, you could potentially make up some wiggle room in your personal item. Remember I packed for five days so if you are packing for a shorter trip then your results will be different.

• Shoe Compartment - I mentioned previously that I packed one pair of sneakers in there with plenty of room to spare. You could easily pack multiple pairs of shoes in that compartment, but keep in mind that whatever space you use in the shoe compartment, you are taking that space from the duffel bag itself.

Would I Recommend it?

Let me start by saying if you skipped the rest of this article to just get this answer, please go back and start from the beginning. While I would definitely recommend this bag, you need to have all the facts to ensure this bag would actually work for you. There are a lot of little things that will dictate whether this garment duffel bag will be an appropriate bag for you and only you can decide that. With that said, I will personally be keeping this bag to use for shorter trips (3-5 days). My husband was so impressed he wants one for himself as well. While you can buy a garment duffel from multiple sellers on TikTok Shop, I would suggest trying Amazon instead. I got a three-piece set cheaper (around $40) on Amazon and the quality was much better than expected.

Let me know if there is another bag you would like me to test!

Until Next Time,

Happy Packing