REVIEW: Pakt One Travel Bag

A few months ago I received a new travel bag from the brand Pakt. It was designed in collaboration by the Minimalists and Malcom Fontier. There are many merits to this bag straight out of the (100% plastic-free) packaging – including environmental considerations and ethical standards in production, but I was mostly interested in how it performed.

Before compiling this review, I gave myself time to use the Pakt One Travel bag on a handful of trips. One camping trip, one flying trip, and one car trip. I even let my husband borrow it for a brief work trip to LA. That gave us both a chance to fly with it, allowing us to get a sense of how things work when you’re jugging items at the airport, including how well it fit in the those overhead compartments.

Before I get to my review, a little more about the bag.

The Specs.

It measures approximately 11 inches tall, 20 inches long, and 10 inches deep, and has a 35 liter capacity. It can fit a ton of stuff, but you have to know how to pack it. The outside is made from coated polyester canvas, and the inside features mesh and soft, padded compartments. Full specs here.

REVIEW:

My first impression of this bag is that it might be a little smarter than me! It’s designed for organization and access, very different from my Everlane bag, which looks great, but just has one big compartment inside. The Pakt Bag holds quite a bit, but I had to watch the video (scroll down) a few times to learn how to make it work best for me.

The feature that most appealed to me was the way it zips all the way open like a suitcase. To get maximum capacity when traveling, I found the best strategy was to pack both sides equally, and roll your items.

Performance
I really liked how accessible all my items were. When I went through airport security, I easily pulled out my liquids without opening my whole bag. I also liked how the multiple compartments kept my items organized during my trip. I found the bag easily fit in the overhead compartments when I was flying. It was so nice to not be one of those people struggling to get their bag stowed away! Overall the bag felt very sturdy and secure on my shoulder as I traveled. However, after some ‘quality time’ at the airport. I found myself really wishing I had a bag with wheels instead of a bag on my shoulder.

Pros
This bag is very well constructed, one of the nicer travel bags I’ve owned. The design is excellent, there is a place for everything (except bras! the hardest item to travel with without squishing). Because of the organizational design, it’s easy to use every square inch of this bag to its potential. Works well for car travel.

Cons
Shoulder strap-only carrying. No matter how light I packed, after enough airport walking and check-ins, my shoulder began to ache. If I packed lighter (i.e., no shoes and very few toiletries) this would work better for me. But I usually include various face washes, lotions, hair stuff, etc. And always an alternate pair of shoes. This means it’s hard to keep my bag light. I would have loved it if this bag had a simple wheel-based rolling system. However, I imagine that would make the bag heavier for the shoulder-carriers.

Mr. Season’s Thoughts

“My experience was more limited than Andrea’s, and I have different travel expectations from my many trips with the military. I’m used to very large, open bags that you have to really plan and map out for maximum storage and access. With the Pakt bag, once I figured out how all the compartments worked and what they could hold, I really enjoyed organizing my items and using the storage spaces for navigating TSA.

“The laptop slot in the middle was great because it uses my own clothing to protect the computer and it’s super accessible for the no shoes, no belt, no electronics portion of travel known as airport security. When I watched the video, I didn’t think the mesh bag for valuables would be that impressive. However, I loved it when going through security. My only challenge was repacking once there were dirty clothes since, when packing light, you really do have to roll or tightly fold your clothes – clean or dirty. Unlike Mrs. Seasons, I like that it’s a shoulder bag since I find travel to be highly mobile and I like to be quick on my feet.”

Conclusion

Overall I really like the bag, and I look forward to continuing to use it on weekend car trips. When it comes to flying, I’ll let my husband use it. I think it works best for someone who packs very light. My bag tends to be too heavy to carry on my shoulder.

If you want to read more about how the bag is made, they have a really interesting blog chronicling the process, including information on the factory they work with. The bag officially launches on September 7th, but you can sign up here for free shipping and a discount on launch day.

I was not compensated for this post, but I did receive this bag as a gift from the brand.