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Packing light sounds great in theory — until you’re staring at a pile of clothes and an airline-approved underseat bag. Striking the balance between too much and not enough is harder than it looks. Holidays are precious, and we all want to feel comfortable, confident, and dressed for the occasion — without dragging a heavy case around.

I’ve been travelling regularly for work and leisure for a long time, gradually refining a setup that’s quick to pack, truly minimalist, and still works across all climates.

So here it is: my complete 4-season minimalist travel capsule wardrobe — packed into a small daypack that fits under the seat on even the strictest budget airlines (yes, Ryanair included). This isn’t theory. I’ve tested it in multiple countries and climates, and refined over time.

One Bag Packing - Personal Item Only - 4 Season minimalist packing

The bag I use is the Fjallraven High Coast 24L Foldsack with the tiny 1.5L matching waist pack . That plus the clothes I’m wearing is the most I ever travel with — no matter the trip.

This post shares my minimalist packing tips using my own capsule wardrobe as a real example. Your style, climate, or trip might be very different — and that’s fine. Take what works, tweak what doesn’t, and build a travel wardrobe that feels right for you.

What is a Minimalist Travel Capsule Wardrobe?

So let me define what I mean first by a Travel Capsule Wardrobe. To me, it’s a set of clothes that can cover every situation on your trip — from sightseeing to dinner to unexpected weather or whatever else is relevant to your time away. The key is cohesion. pieces mix and match to form multiple outfits. Ideally, it’s timeless, compact, and reflects the wearer’s personal style. As someone, who likes to keep things minimal, every item must ‘earn its keep’ by being regularly useful on the trip.

Benefits of Packing Light

The more I travel with a tiny bag, the more I know it’s right for me. These days, I seldom worry about what I failed to bring. I’m more likely to be analysing my post trip packing to see if there is anything I can reasonably scrub off the list for next time.

Here’s some of the four most obvious benefits of packing light which I appreciate on every trip.

  • Saves Money – Saying no to all the extras, like baggage fees on budget airlines, is easy when you know you don’t need them and don’t feel you’re missing out. Lower fares were my main motivation initially, but I’ve found other reasons to love light packing. Now I pack the same, whether I save on airline fees or not.
  • Baggage Freedom – This is the biggest benefit for me. I walk more, worry less, and spend almost no time deciding what to wear each day. As long as I have enough to feel clean, comfortable and dressed appropriately, that’s all that matters. It’s a particular benefit when travelling solo. Whether you want to nip to a public toilet or visit the buffet car on a train, it’s easy to do. Your belongings can come with you. No need to leave anything unattended, locked up or guarded by some random stranger. 
  • Easier to Keep Track of Your Things – This is a big one for me as a forgetful person. Fewer things means it’s easier to account for them when you pack. This, in conjunction with systems where everything has a place, make it harder to lose things and leave them behind.
  • Simple Packing and Unpacking – I use the same base list, with a few tweaks here and there, time after time. This makes preparing for a trip much easier and quicker. Packing light makes unpacking easy too. One small load straight into the washing machine, that’s all. No large piles to launder, sort through and put away.

Want to pack light without sacrificing what you need? I’ve travelled across Europe and beyond with just a small 24L bag.

I’m sharing my exact packing list for a 4 season trip. This free downloadable PDF includes lists for clothing, toiletries, tech and everything else. 

minimalist 4 season wardrobe in personal item sized (24L) bag

You’ll get the free packing list – and occasional tips, updates or resources from One Small Bag. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime (Privacy Policy)

My Minimalist Travel Capsule Wardrobe

In 2019, I built a four-season Minimalist Travel Capsule Wardrobe for a 2020 round-the-world trip, a much longed for sabbatical from my work as an IT consultant. I knew I wanted to carry as little as possible. It was a ‘no fly’ route taking me from my home in the UK, westbound via Iceland and Greenland across the USA (summer) and the Pacific to Japan, then onto South Korea and China. From there it was a train all the way home across China, Mongolia, Russia and mainland Europe as the colder weather started to set in. It also involved two long trans-positioning cruises across the Atlantic and Pacific, so I knew there would be some ‘dressing up’ and I didn’t want to be rumbled for bringing so few clothes and turning up to gala night in quick dry trousers and walking boots!

While Covid and geopolitics put that trip on indefinite hold, I’ve used that same four-season wardrobe template on every trip since then. I remove or swap items depending on the season or trip length or because I get bored of a particular item, but it’s my reliable starting point. I know, wherever I go, I should never need more!

I don’t want this post, to be yet another commentary on packing light, without getting into the specifics and practical examples. That’s why I have chosen to share my exact list with you. Please understand I’m neither a ‘fashion icon’ or the ‘fashion police’ so it’s not intended as an instruction on what to wear! It’s merely a demonstration of what is potentially possible, which I hope will be helpful, if you want to cut your baggage too!

So here is all the clothes and accessories, I would pack for a 4 Season extended trip and yes I probably am ‘Team Basic’, but personally it’s enough and I don’t need more.

  • 3 short sleeve tops
  • 3 long sleeve tops
  • 3 trousers
  • 2 dresses (one more usually worn as nightwear)
  • 3 jackets
  • 2 pairs of shoes
  • 3 briefs
  • 3 pairs of socks
  • 1 tights/leggings
  • 1 bra
  • 1 bra top/shorts (summer or swim, sleep, underwear)
  • 1 belt
  • 1 buff
  • 1 scarf
  • 1 gloves
  • 2 hats (summer/rain bucket hat + winter beanie)
  • 1 backpack (both travel pack and daypack)
  • 1 waistpack/crossbody/sling
4 season travel wardrobe in a 24l litre bag (Fjallraven High Coast Foldsack)

Top Row – Ripskirt Sun Dress Long, White Stuff Nelly Notch Top, M&S Merino Waistcoat / Top, Merino blend reversible T-shirt, Navy Jacket, scarf, Decathlon Merino Hat, Packable Bucket Hat, Coolnet Buff , Decathlon Touchscreen Glove, Middle Row – Ruched V Neck long sleeve top, Crew Neck Long Sleeve top, Jersey Button Down Shirt, White/Natural Down Jacket, Elastic Gold Buckle Dress Belt, Rieker Navy Zip Boots, Fjallraven HighCoast Foldsack Bottom Row – Convertible Footed/Footless Tights, Black Reversible Merino Dress, Packaway Trousers (zip off), Kiwi Pro Walking Trousers, M&S Cotton Rich Trousers, Packable Rain Jacket, 1.5L Fjallraven High Coast waist pack

With 7 tops, 3 bottoms and 2 dresses, plus jackets and accessories, this provides plenty of possible combinations of clothes

I’ll explain a little more about some of the items in this list, as I go through my top tips on light packing. So do stay with me and read on, to find out more.

Tips For Your Minimalist Travel Capsule Wardrobe

I’ve read plenty of packing advice for clothing from influencers and bloggers and much of it can be quite contradictory. Some advice says stick to solid colours so no one notices you are wearing the same in every photo. Others swear by patterns because they hide creases and spills. Wear black! No! Wear neutrals! Honestly, there’s a lot of noise online telling women what to wear. So let me be clear: If it’s not your style, you won’t enjoy wearing it. Start with clothes you already love and feel good in and build your capsule from there.

Here are some more tips which help me, and I hope will help you, taking examples from my Minimalist Travel Capsule Wardrobe.

1 Choose Mix-and-Match Outfits

Sticking to a consistent colour palette makes mixing and matching easier. Unless you have a naturally flamboyant colourful style and can ‘pull if off’ with confidence, you might want to avoid clashing prints or colours. Including some neutral pieces and some wardrobe ‘basics’, will make things easier, but accent colours, stand out pieces and complementary colours can play their part too. It doesn’t have to be all neutral or all black!

Here we can see how a few of the pieces from my minimalist travel capsule wardrobe can be mixed and matched to create 14 different outfits for warm or hot weather. There are technically far more possibilities, but I’ve put it together, to show how it’s possible to create different outfits, from a small number of pieces.

Example clothing combinations - for warmer weather - from minimalist travel capsule wardrobe in a 24L bag - 4 season

2 Set a Target and Count Your Items!

There are a few counting methods swirling about for travel capsule wardrobes. There’s no solid theory behind the numbers, but anything putting limits on what your bring and encouraging you to swap items, not add them, has to be a good thing.

These are two popular methods.

  • 5-4-3-2-1 Method – different authors seem to attribute different clothing items to the numbers, but principally the proponents of the theory suggests you take 5 of one clothing category, 4 of another, 3 of another and so on. For example, 5 tops, 4 bottoms, 3 pairs of shoes, 2 dresses, 1 set of accessories. These ratios don’t quite work for me. I’d normally stick to two pairs of shoes at most, and I’d only take that many clothes for a multi-season trip, but I’m sure you get the idea. Try and adapt it and let me know in the comments if this works for you?
  • 3-3-3 method – 3 tops, 3 bottoms, 3 layers. Personally I like this, it’s hard to argue with the simplicity. If all clothes can be mixed and matched, you potentially have 3x3x3=27 outfits. A dress could count for either a top or a bottom. For a single season trip, this is a solid system and I use it for that too. It should fit easily in a small bag, provided you don’t fill it up with a lot of other extras and non clothing items or pack particularly bulky items.

For my 4 season Minimalist Travel Capsule Wardrobe, I have 33 items of clothing including underwear and accessories. The figure was inspired by the minimalist writer, Courtney Carver and her 33 item capsule wardrobe system, Project 333. I’ve modified her definition, of what categories count in the ’33’, to include everything as my capsule is a travel one, not a general purpose one. It’s a helpful ‘hard stop’ on the items I bring.

3 Pack for a Week, Wash and Repeat

There’s no magic trick to make a month’s worth of clothes fit in a tiny bag. If you’re away for more than a week, plan for laundry. I bring laundry sheets. These work for both handwashing and machines, they take up almost no space and won’t count against aviation liquid allowances. Once you’ve mastered packing for one week in a small bag, laundry means you can potentially pack for two weeks, two months or even longer.

Try to stay somewhere where you will have access to a washing machine at regular intervals. Alternatively, there are laundromats or laundry services too. Some hotels may charge a small fortune to wash your clothes, but in some parts of the world, especially South-East Asia, it can be very economical to pass the job on to someone else!

Pack for a Week, Wash and Repeat! Tips for Ultralight Packing from One Small Bag - Your Blueprint for your Minimalist Travel Capsule Wardrobe

Large quantities of hand washing, may not bring joy and leads to new problems of where and how to dry things. But sink-washing underwear every night and possibly one other quick dry item, will only take a few minutes, It will lengthen the time between a full laundry wash and stop dirty washing accumulating.

4 Limit Your Shoes

Shoes take up space. Try to limit yourself to one pair worn, and one packed pair (if needed). Choose options that work across your planned activities.

For me, I tend to take a leather sneaker style high top boot with good tread on the bottom. Something suitable for hiking (maybe not anything too challenging), but something from a general shoe brand rather than a hiking specific one. Then I feel comfortable wearing them for smarter activities and about town too. So no need for separate pairs.

The other pair I bring, (the packed pair) needs to be compact. Lightweight loafers, other flat shoes or sandals could be good choices. Currently my second pair are closed toe sandals with good grip.

5 Weigh Your Items and Set Targets

If you’re torn between two items, weigh them — and choose the lighter one. You’ll be amazed the difference this can make. I also try and make sure no individual item weighs more than 400g. Some of my tops are around 100g.

As I travel very regularly and tend to pack the same things, I’ve weighed everything and logged it on a spreadsheet. Here’s the analysis of my packing for 4 season and a lighter core setup with a much narrower temperature range. I aim for a bag weight from 4kg to around 6kg. Packed clothes can account for between 1.5kg for a light pack but I’d keep them well under 3Kg if I want a total pack size of 6Kg, especially as I travel with a small laptop.

Packed Weights for One Small Bag

6 Wear Your Heaviest Items on Travel Days

If you wear it, you don’t have to pack it. For ‘winter only’ trips, bring a thick warm coat and wear it in transit as you won’ need to pack it. If you like to bring jeans and thick hoodies, wear them on travel days to save space and weight as they are heavy and bulky to pack.

7 Choose Streamlined Styles and Lighter Fabrics Like Merino

Pick lighter versions of what you already wear, so you keep your style, but lighten your load. For example, If you love jeans, go for a lighter weight denim. Thinner fabrics are often found in high street shops and with ‘cheaper’ brands. It’s not essential to shop travel brands or technical clothes.

You will also save space and weight if you avoid bulky silhouettes such as wide sleeves, floaty hems, and oversized items. A-line skirts, slimmer trousers, and sleeveless dresses, that layer easily, are more packable.

Merino wool can work well for travel, even for hot weather. Merino is ultrafine, thermoregulating, and antimicrobial. This means it will keep you cool when it’s hot and warm when it’s cold and it won’t smell if worn on multiple days, especially if it’s aired overnight. Contrast this with synthetics and cotton. These tend to be one-trick ponies, good for warmth, or for cooling, but rarely both. This is why merino is a favourite for light packers, especially on multi-season trips.

If you are looking to add any merino to your travel capsule, do check it’s from a mulesing free source. I won’t go into the animal welfare issues here, but thankfully the practice is being phased out and is limited solely to wool sourced from one country, Australia. If the brand is free of wool from mulesed sheep, it’s likely they will tell you clearly on their website.

Merino wool can be a little fragile. Merino blends, with some nylon in for strength, can be great options and give the fabric a smoother feel. The blends are unlikely to feel itchy for most people.

merino items in my travel capsule wardrobe

Wool& Black Reversible Merino Blend Dress, M&S Merino Waistcoat / Top, Icebreaker Merino blend reversible T-shirt, Wool& Sloan Crew Neck Long Sleeve top, Wool& Melanie Ruched V Neck long sleeve top, Decathlon Merino Beanie Hat

8 Choose ‘Wash and Wear, Easy Care’ Clothes

As a busy person, this has been true for home life as well as travel for a long time! Bring clothing which is easy to wash, dries quickly, and resists creases. You may want to skip white T-shirts as they show stains and require separate washing. Instead aim for ‘wash-and-wear’ fabrics that are ‘easy care’ and bounce back with little effort and no ironing.

9 Choose Versatile Pieces with Multiple Uses

Here are a few examples from this Minimalist Travel Capsule Wardrobe.

  • Button-down shirt, merino waistcoat and Merino T shirt — worn on their own or layered — can be a summer top or a mid-layer or base layer.
  • Reversible Items – I have a striped T-shirt and black dress which can both be worn both ways around— V-neck one side, crew neck the other.
  • Merino black midi dress — A plain black dress – can be worn with tops over it or under it. I can also wear it as a maxi skirt if I tuck the top half under a belt. In practice, as the least worn item in my travel capsule, it doubles up as nightwear. 
  • Bra/vest top and shorts — doubles as swimwear, sleepwear, or workout gear or extra underwear. Obviously for a dedicated beach holiday, dedicated swimwear would make sense. But if not, adding some versatile pieces gives you options, without bringing more.
  • Trousers — 2 of the three pairs are technical and/or hiking trousers, but they are very plain and free of obvious logos so can ‘pass’ as regular trousers. One pair of trousers are zip-off, to turn into shorts.
  • Buff — works as neckwear, headband, sun cover, eye mask, hat, face covering, and more.
  • Packable Bucket Hat – Works to keep out both sun and rain and can also fit on top of my winter beanie or buff. 

Let me know, in the comments, what clothing items you have, which have multiple uses and ways of wearing them!

10 Layer Up Instead of Packing Heavy Items

Nobody wants to be cold — but that doesn’t mean lugging thick jumpers. Choose light layers that combine well.

Example clothing combinations - for colder weather - from minimalist travel capsule wardrobe in a 24L bag

Here are some examples of colder weather outfits all with different looks from my Minimalist Travel Capsule Wardrobe. There could also be clothes layered underneath, for extra warmth, which you can’t see. For example, the short sleeved tops and bra tops, won’t be worn on their own in winter, but they can be base layers in winter.

Top Tip for Winter Travel Wardrobe

Layer Tops – Pack 3 thinner tops in winter and wear them on top of each other. Just change the order, to look different! If they are thinner, they will dry quickly if you wash them, so you can still keep things fresh and clean!
3 Jacket Layering System – A lightweight summer jacket or hoody can be worn under a down puffer jacket. If a waterproof jacket is worn on top of that, it gives even more weather protection. This option works well with a multi-season travel capsule wardrobe, where winter clothing needs to be packable.
Layer Bottoms – Tights or thermals can be worn under trousers, for extra warmth. Technical quick dry trousers, if they are lose fitting, can be worn as over trousers over another pair.

11 Check the Weather — But Don’t Rely On It

Always check the forecast — but take it with a pinch of salt as the forecast is not always correct. Also, even in warm weather, you may need a jacket for cool evenings, breezy hills or cold air conditioning. A temperature of 24°C in the shade can feel very different on an open ferry deck or a mountain trail. Plan for variability, not perfection.

12 Make a Plan (and Don’t Pack in a Rush)

Laying everything out before packing helps you spot overlaps and see outfit combinations. I’d recommend avoiding packing last-minute as this may lead to ‘panic packing’! Items added late on, without much thought, often turn out not to be the best choices!

Sometimes, planning every single outfit in advance is recommended by ‘packing experts’ The advice can even go as far as suggesting packing each day’s outfits in a separate bag or packing cube for each day! Personally, I think that’s overkill, unless you are attending a series of formal events, where completely different daily outfits are expected. Instead plan to re-wear items, in different combinations. Building in versatility and options is the key. Micro planning can have its place, but it often leads to overpacking, kills spontaneity and goes wrong when things don’t go to plan!

What’s Coming Next?

I hope you’ve found these tips helpful. This is the first In a series of blog posts about packing a personal item sized bag for a 4 Season Trip, We will be moving on to the following areas next, so stayed tuned or consider subscribing to my blog on the link below. You’ll get a complete packing list too! This is the whole system, not just the clothes!

  • Packing Clothes to save space (and you might be surprised at some of my suggestions. I’m not simply following trends here)
  • Choosing and Packing Toiletries
  • Choosing and Packing Tech
  • Miscellaneous Items and Tiny Travel Items

Want to pack light without sacrificing what you need? I’ve travelled across Europe and beyond with just a small 24L bag.

I’m sharing my exact packing list for a 4 season trip. This free downloadable PDF includes lists for clothing, toiletries, tech and everything else. 

minimalist 4 season wardrobe in personal item sized (24L) bag

You’ll get the free packing list – and occasional tips, updates or resources from One Small Bag. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime (Privacy Policy)

Do You Want to Create Your Own Minimal Travel Wardrobe?

Have fun creating your own minimalist travel capsule . Let me know your thoughts or share your tips in the comments — I’d love to hear what works for you!

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