What to Look for in a Travel Skirt: Plus Travel Clothes E-tailers

Skirts tend to be one of the most forgiving items for travel, provided they aren't tight. Just the fact that they hang and swing tends to take out wrinkles. Here are loads of tips for finding that perfect travel skirt or skirts, from the mall to the internet. When shopping at the mall or an outlet, you won't find much of a section of travel-specific clothing. But you can find the perfect travel skirt by testing the item in question right there in the store.

Grab a handful of the fabric into your hand, compressing it as best you can for about 5-10 seconds. Then, let the fabric fall out of your hand. Is it still wrinkled? Do a few hand-smoothings and shaking out the fabric take care of the problem? If not, the item might not travel well. If so, then it might make for a good piece of travel clothing.

Look for certain fabrics. Cotton, by itself, is not a travel-friendly fabric, though it can be treated with certain chemicals to keep it less wrinkled for a number of washes. Look for blends with some stretch to them. Knitwear fares well, but silk and linen can be a pain. Some silks will smooth out after being closed in a bathroom during a hot shower but aren't the best to travel with. Linen will wrinkle the moment you look at it funny, and nothing short of an iron can make it crisp again. Knits that hang well tend to make the best travel skirts.

Remember that treated fabrics only work for a certain amount of washes. I've found that they don't work remarkably well even prior to that, but it's better than nothing. Always go in favor of a fabric that naturally doesn't wrinkle much rather than a treated fabric that tends to wrinkle.

Look for black, or splashy patterns that don't have regularity. Wrinkles will show up more in a travel skirt if you have a continuous pattern such as stripes, but can seem to disappear if the pattern is irregular or doesn't repeat in an organized fashion.

Another travel trick is to go with the wrinkles rather than against them. Basically, choose a fabric that's designed to look good with as many wrinkles as possible. The very definition of this concept is the broomstick skirt, which holds artistic wrinkles better than any piece of clothing.

If you insist on buying specialty "travel clothing," you can head for several e-tailers.

Lands' End's Commuter line has business attire that holds up well to travel. While it isn't entirely wrinkle-free and while these aren't travel specific clothing these products do fairly well and can be washed and hung in hotel room for a wrinkle free finish. Lands End in general sells quality goods. http://www.landsend.com/

Chico's Travelers line carries very basic black travel skirts, but they have some patterned tops to go with those skirts, just so you won't get bored. Most of Chico's clothing is forgiving of your body's faults, whatever they may be. http://www.chicos.com/

Magellan's specializes in travel, and they've got all the basics covered, including a few skirts and dresses in a polyester/spandex blend that's guaranteed not to wrinkle. The travel skirts they carry come in pretty basic colors, but they're a good a base to start from. http://www.magellans.com/

One of the most annoying things about shopping for travel clothing is that they seem to come in two colors-khaki or black. While it's very nice to have some travel basics, a little zip to your outfit would be nice. That's where Orvis comes in with their nifty reversible patterned skirts. These gossamer, feminine skirts don't scream travel skirt, and, best of all they come in a number of different patterns! http://www.orvis.com/

Sahalie carries some very interesting skirts and clothing, mostly geared toward the adventurous lady, who's into rock climbing, skiing, yoga and travel. They've got convertible travel skirts and quick drying skirts for those ladies who like to come out of the water just in time for dinner. The site looks great, but search in different sections for what you need, because you might not see the activity specific travel skirt you're looking for in their skirt section and you might have to look elsewhere on the site. http://www.sahalie.com/

TravelSmith packs both variety and practicality into their skirt and dress lines. You'll find everything from the aforementioned broomstick to reversible skirts and colors you don't normally find in a travel skirt. Take a look at their Pack and Go series in the blue guava for something refreshing. http://www.travelsmith.com/

Whether you go online or to the outlet mall, there's plenty of options for the perfect travel skirt.