I do a recurring article series on my favorite travel gear and travel clothing brands, with a few new updates each year, and lately I’ve been trying to mix up the apparel that goes in my suitcase a bit. This month I traveled for weeks with three new items from Toad and Co, (also written as Toad&Co), and they’re going to become regulars.
I go through phases where my travel bag is packed with dependable staples that I could just leave in there and never unpack (but that would be a wrinkle problem eventually). A decade ago it would have contained mostly ExOfficio and Craghoppers items, before ExOfficio stopped making travel clothing and Craghoppers became a UK-only company soon after, despite the huge market opportunity. Then I would sprinkle in a few one-off things from Columbia, Mountain Khakis, Icebreaker, and others.
Once I started trying out prAna clothing though, I found that I could mix business and adventure without packing two wardrobes and I started looking for more items like this that went from meetings to pubs to trails without ducking back to the room to change. I mostly avoided Toad and Co because they put out so many items made of organic cotton. That’s admirable for the planet, but not so great for travel when cotton=wrinkles and you are not in the mood to do ironing abroad.
Before this trip to the USA and the country of Georgia, however, I spent more time on their website finding non-cotton items of theirs that were really ready to be crammed into a bag for flights and bus rides and gave them heavy rotation on the road. I’m happy to say they performed well and are well-made enough that they should be visiting many countries to come.
Toad and Company Shirts I Tried
The styles may have changed by the time you read this, but I took a short-sleeve shirt made of mostly hemp and a long-sleeve fleece shirt that’s synthetic. The first one got less action than the latter because of the weather, but it’s the kind of thing I would wear out at home as well, so they’ll probably even out over time.
That’s the Taj Hemp Short Sleeve shirt pictured above. Mine is the “Salt Dobby” color and there are three other options. It’s 54% hemp, Tencel Lyocell for softness, wicking, and wrinkle-avoidance, then 2% Elastane for stretch. On my body this fabric combo felt like the equivalent of a rum master getting the blending perfectly right on a solera system Ron Zacapa. It was soft and comfy and looked good after more than 24 hours in a suitcase. I hand washed it once and machine washed it once and it didn’t wrinkle up.
The Kennicott Shirt Jacket long sleeve fleece I wore every day or two and I found this combo wool/synthetic top to be a really versatile item. I wore it apres-ski outdoors at an outdoor slopeside bar, on a few very long plane rides, out to dinner, and outside in Tbilisi on days when it was kind of cool but not cold. It’s a cozy shirt with snaps and not buttons, which I like, plus two chest pockets for tossing in reading glasses or earbuds.
I washed it a few times too in a machine too, so I got to see how it held up after that. I wasn’t real thrilled with how much fuzz was in the washer filter since some of that fleece is synthetic fibers (and microplastics) going down the drain into the water supply, but that leveled off after the first wash. Let’s hope it’s the 41% that’s wool. It comes in “True Navy” and “Falcon Brown.”
This one seems to be a hit: it was sold out except for the medium size in the color I have when I looked it up at the beginning of April. Hopefully it’ll be back next year.
See Toad&Co men’s shirts here.
Another Good Pair of Travel Pants
I never pack jeans because they’re heavy and take up too much room and the world has gotten too casual for dress pants, at least in my industry of travel, so I’m almost exclusively packing travel pants these days even when attending a conference or speaking on stage. That’s because the right travel pants don’t really make you look like you’re setting off with a machete to forge a path through the jungle. The best ones fit well but have a little stretch, have a zippered pocket or two, and some stain resistance or water resistance that keeps them from getting dirty easily.
These travel pants from Toad & Co hit all the right notes on that list and they’re going to be in the starting line-up from now on. The full name is the Rover II 5 Pocket Lean Pant, as opposed to the looser cut regular version. They come in two colors and a variety of inseams and lengths. Mine are “Jeep” color (pictured here), which sounded better than “Soot.”
The synthetic but natural-feeling fabric contains 45% recycled nylon, some new nylon, and a bit a stretch fabric. There’s a PFC-free DWR finish to resist stains or spills.
Don’t be put off by the “5 pockets” in the name and be expecting cargo pants. The 5th is an extra back pocket with a zipper to deter thieves, your wallet ending up under the outside pocket. All those pockets are secured with metal rivets and the pants close with a metal button. See more details here.
Most of their other pants are cotton, but some of those have some synthetic fibers mixed in to decrease the wrinkling and provide a little more mobility. I would imagine they’re lighter than jeans. See all the pants options here.
Environmentally Friendly Travel Clothing
How you spend your money on what you wear can have a large impact on what’s happening to our planet. The worst thing you can do is buy fast fashion from Temu or Zara and toss it after one season. If you buy quality items that will last for years that’s better. Best is to buy items you’ll wear for a decade or more that were made in a sustainable way in the first place.
Part of the reason I recommend prAna so much is that they make clothes that look great, but they’re also doing the right thing at every turn when it comes to sustainability. I’m happy to say Toad and Co. scores highly on that metric as well. Like I mentioned earlier, they love organic cotton, but when that’s not a good option, they’re doing what they can to mitigate the impact of their manufacturing and shipping.
If you dig around a little on their website, they’ve got info on how to spot and avoid greenwashing. (Including this sobering stat: “Fashion is responsible for around 20% of industrial water pollution yearly from textile treatment and dyeing.”) Their impact and sustainability page provides a whole company timeline on when they adopted what measure to minimize their impact and tk. I like this attitude:
We only use high quality, low impact materials that are designed to live many lives, like organic cotton, hemp, TENCEL Lyocell, and recycled fibers. And if a sustainable fabric isn’t cutting it on comfort, we’ll make our own custom blend until we get that softness just right.
They haven’t gotten to completely plastic-free shipping like prAna but they’re close. They plan to be completely weaned off by 2026. The tags on my clothing were recycled paper, attached with twine. The company uses a 100% solar-powered hemp factory for some items, a certified organic one for cotton, and has certifications from bluesign and other orgs. They’re the real deal.
See more of their great clothing, including plenty for women too, at Toadandco.com.
Want to see what else I’m packing? Here’s more info on my favorite travel gear and clothing.
