Best Travel Skirts
The case for a travel skirt is the same as for any good travel garment: one thing that packs small, dries overnight, needs no ironing, and does not look like outdoor kit.
What to look for:
- A fabric that dries overnight. Recycled polyester or a nylon blend will; cotton and linen will not. This is the difference between washing it in a sink and carrying it dirty.
- Pockets that close. Rare on skirts, and the single most useful feature in travel.
- Knee length or longer, which makes it usable at religious sites and in more conservative places without carrying anything extra. This is the practical reason a skirt earns its place in a small bag.
- A mid-tone or a pattern, which hides a day's wear. Not white, and not black in hot dusty places.
- No lining, which doubles the drying time for no benefit.
The versatile trick: a long skirt in a light fabric doubles as a beach cover-up, a shoulder covering when a temple requires one, and something to sleep in. Few garments do four jobs.
What has changed since this was written: the whole category got better and more ordinary. Travel clothing no longer has to look technical, and several mainstream brands now make things in fast-drying fabrics without the zip-off styling that used to come with it.
And the honest note: the lowest-impact version of any garment is the one you already own. Manufacturing dominates a piece of clothing's footprint, so a skirt you have that dries fast beats a new recycled one.
Part of the guide to clothing and layers.