Photograph: Adam Doud/The Guardian
If a backpack could be clothing, it would be the capacious Scottevest, a brilliant workaround to pesky TSA rules and airline carry-on restrictions.
Airport security is one of the worst parts of travel, especially recently. Even with TSA PreCheck, you need to empty every pocket before getting scanned. If you carry as much stuff as I do, it’s like being asked to empty your desk drawer on a conveyor belt.
Then I discovered an unlikely workaround: a vest with dozens of pockets for everything, including phones, glasses, earbuds, pens, pencils, wallets, tablets and yes, even laptops. I don’t bother unloading anything. I just remove the whole vest and send it through the scanner. When I pick it up on the other side with everything still neatly filed away, it feels like a cheat code.
As someone who travels every month for work, the Scottevest blew my mind the first time I tried one, and it has loads of uses outside just gliding through airport security. Here’s why you’re missing out on one of the most practical travel upgrades from a brand you’ve probably never heard of.
At a Glance
Scottevest Best Travel Vest – from $199 at Scottevest and Amazon
Scottevest Tropiformer 3D Jacket – from $239 at Scottevest and Amazon
A Home for Everything
Scottevest makes apparel with pockets inside pockets inside pockets. The company started with the signature vest, then expanded to include jackets, pants, dresses, even hats. You’ll find me sporting the Scottevest Best Travel Vest but I’ve been wearing Scottevest jackets for the past seven years and have come to rely on having a pocket for everything to stay organized – it boasts 26 in total.
Despite concealing all that storage, the vest looks discreet on the outside. It’s made of polyester and comes in six understated colors like black, midnight blue and fossil grey. The understated zippers have small pull tabs that even my sausage fingers can comfortably grab and pull.
I won’t walk you through all 26 pockets, but you’ll find one for everything you need. Outside, you get two hand pockets, two at rib height, and two chest pockets, which I find ideal for quick-access items like earbuds and mints. Inside, highlights include a pocket for glasses, with attached microfiber cloth on the right side, plus two inside pockets on the left that I use for my wallet and passport. There’s even an additional velcro-sealed RFID-blocking pocket, if you’re worried about your credit card.
But the main attraction is a pocket so huge it will fit an entire laptop. Let’s be real: have I carried a laptop in it? Yes I have. Would I if I had a backpack? Absolutely not. The bulk and weight make it more of an emergency option than one I’d use every day. But I still find it handy for oversized odds and ends that I pick up at trade shows: papers, folders, even an umbrella and a small soccer ball.
Why I’ll Never Go Back
For someone like me – a traveler, a tech writer and a suburban dad, this level of organization is invaluable. I know exactly where everything I carry is at all times. Never do my phone and keys dangerously commingle in the same pocket any more.
For budget travelers, the Scottevest is also a loophole: clothing doesn’t count as a personal item, so you can carry even more on to a plane without paying for a checked bag. I’m not going to lie – wearing it fully loaded is not the most comfortable experience, but for a short flight it’s better than dropping coin on checking a bag (and waiting around for it at baggage claim after). My Scottevests have gotten me through a few situations where I had to come home with more stuff than I had planned for.
I hesitate to call a vest life-changing, but for me, this one really has been. In hot weather when it’s too toasty, I long for cooler months so I can go back to having all my pockets. Try one, and you’ll probably never go back to a normal jacket or vest.
Scottevest Best Travel Vest – from $199 at Scottevest and Amazon
Scottevest Tropiformer 3D Jacket – from $239 at Scottevest and Amazon
Other pieces you might enjoy from the Filter, the Guardian’s guide to buying fewer, better things: The four best personal-item backpacks that fit under US airline seats; Travel essentials: eight items to pack for your next trip – and what to leave at home; I’m a digital nomad who works on the road. These seven travel gadgets go with me everywhere.
