Flying in to your arraignment? You'll need one of these.

Since we actually *buy* some of the stuff ShopWiki indexes, we figured we'd point out a genuinely useful product, not that an alpaca doesn't have its uses.

I bought the Eagle Creek Pack-It Folder 18 based on the recommendation of a friend who also works at ShopWiki. We were at a wedding in D.C., and I watched him pull this thing out of his backpack. Inside was a two-piece suit, a few dress shirts, ties, and other more casual clothes. He was like some sort of magician. Meanwhile, there's my burdened self, having driven down from New York with some big-ass piece of luggage or other.

The folder comes with a big plastic card that you fold your suit/shirts/etc. around. Instructions for folding are printed on the card; you remove the card after each item is folded. After everything is folded up, you Velcro the folder shut, and toss it in a large backpack / carry on suitcase. Upon arrival, you might need to press your suit, but you'd probably want to do that if you packed with a standard garment bag.

Eagle creek makes these in a few different sizes, depending on how much stuff you need to lug. Since I've bought mine, I haven't had to pack a garment bag once.