While garment duffles from Amazon pseudo-brands abound, ground zero for the obsession seems to be the Halfday Garment Duffel. (Though the bag doesn’t appear to be Halfday’s invention: a patent for the design was filed by Travelon in 2005, long before Halfday made its entrance.)
I decided to try Halfday’s original duffle, The Garment Duffel 45L, which costs a little under $110 at this writing and comes in a plethora of dark and neutral colors. Before opening the box, I had two conflicting expectations: One, based on Halfday’s weekend-in-the-Hamptons marketing vibes, was that the bag would be smart, sophisticated, and high-end. The other, based on the incessant influencer oversell and relatively moderate price, was that it would be cheap and gimmicky.
Neither held completely true. The stitching was clean, the chunky outer zippers pulled with ease (essential on a bag with this much zipper), and the three loops on the garment bag (two for hangers and one for hanging the bag itself) felt sturdy. It included a few thoughtful details, such as a trolley sleeve, interior elasticized slip pockets for shoes, an exterior zippered pocket, and a tie-down strap in the garment bag. Many of these features look flimsier—or are nonexistent—on the Amazon dupes.
But the bag doesn’t feel high-end, either. The polyester fabric looks … fine, and the hardware is plastic instead of metal, which is likely to be a durability issue over the long term. I compared the Halfway Garment Duffel with my personal weekender duffle from Away and found that the Away bag had more organizational features and was made of higher-end materials (canvas, leather, and metal). But you pay a price for all that sophistication: Away’s Weekender costs—and weighs—twice as much as Halfday’s Garment Duffel.
Halfday now offers a premium version of the Garment Duffel for about $50 more. It’s made with sturdier fabric (ballistic nylon) and metal hardware and has additional organizational pockets.
