VACATION Pack practical and versatile clothing

Pick pieces in neutral tones that mix and match to extend your travel wardrobe.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Vacationing Americans are too often not an adventurous bunch -- at least when it comes to clothes.
At home or abroad, most traveling Americans look the same: Men wear cotton T-shirts, probably with a logo or slogan, cargo pants or blue jeans, and sneakers. Women don a T-shirt or wrinkled cotton blouse with jeans or shorts.
Men and women alike wear baseball caps and fanny packs.
It's enough to make a concierge wince.
But it doesn't have to be like this. Fabric technology and garment construction have both come a long way in the last couple of decades, resulting in comfortable clothes that wash and dry in a snap. Several companies produce these new clothes in stylish shapes and colors. Many of the clothes come with anxiety-easing secret pockets for valuables. So, with the summer travel season practically here, it behooves a person to know how -- and what -- to pack.
Mix and match
One of the biggest mistakes women make is packing outfits instead of versatile pieces that mix and match.
"You can usually tell a person who doesn't travel by the amount of stuff they pack," says Maria Erickson, president of Dress In A Bag, which makes travel dresses priced at $50 to $74. "The more people travel, the more practical they become."
A veteran traveler, she doesn't hesitate when asked what she packs for a vacation.
"A pair of black cotton stretch pants, a white sweater and a colored sweater, and then I try to make (tops) go back to that theme. I'll take two or three dresses in a bag, and accessories for them, and that's it."
Her habit of choosing a color or two, plus neutrals, is heartily recommended by travel experts. Magellan's, a company that sells travel clothes and goods, has this advice on its Web site: "Plan everything around a basic color. Choose medium to dark, neutral solid colors for your main wardrobe pieces so that each item will go with everything else."
Anne Kelly, president of Eagan, Minn.-based Junonia, which sells plus-size women's clothes, makes it even simpler: "When I get ready to travel, I just go to my closet and pull out everything that is black and white, and clean," she writes in an e-mail. "Then I toss in a bright tee or two, a scarf, a string of fake pearls, and that's it."
As for footwear, she adds, "Do not, do not, bring any uncomfortable shoes."
Get what works best
While you choose your basic low-profile pieces, consider high-tech fabrics. Sure, those three-for-$10 cotton T-shirts look awfully tempting, especially after you've just dropped a bundle on airfare, but they won't perform as well as modern synthetics in hot, humid, crowded conditions.
"I think a lot of people aren't as educated on the types of products that work best," says Janine Robertson, marketing manager at Ex Officio, which makes practical outdoors gear and travel clothes. "That's why they tend to bring cotton. And a lot of people like to wear T-shirts under long-sleeved shirts, but since cotton doesn't wick moisture," she says, it's counterproductive. Synthetic T-shirts are $25 to $45.
In addition to adopting a minimalist attitude, she suggests, consider performance, too. Can you wash your travel clothes in a hotel sink at night and know that they will dry by morning? (Take it from us, jeans won't.) Is the fabric stain-resistant? Does it resist picking up odors? Does the garment convert to another piece of clothing -- long pants to shorts (convertible pants sell for about $40), a rain jacket to a windbreaker?
Security is consideration
Finally, think about security features.
"I think security pockets are very important," says Erickson. "And divvy things up. That way, if you get hit in one pocket, you don't lose everything." Fortunately, many clothes have secret pockets built into them.
In another aspect of security, folks traveling abroad should leave behind the obvious American items, such as ball caps and sweatshirts with U.S. university and sports teams logos. In plain clothes, a person doesn't stand out, and these days, that's a good thing.