Japan Airlines is offering to check a big item off your packing list – clothing | Hacker News Reader

Japan Airlines is offering to check a big item off your packing list – clothing

anywearanywhere.store

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I think a lot of westerners are going to be unpleasantly surprised if they select items based on typical western sizing categories for S/M/L/XL, which seems to be how they're categorizing the available wardrobe kits. Japanese sizing seems to usually be significantly smaller than EU sizes, and outrageously smaller than US sizes. I've even found that you can't really trust off-the-shelf items with specific dimensions to align to what you'd buy in the west either (neck/sleeve/inseam etc.), as Japanese brands tend to be more accurate here than western brands that include 'vanity' allowances in dimension measurements.

Some of these selections seem goofy too. Wardrobe #122 has a pair of pants that are comically mismatched in terms of inseam length. One pair either has to be absurdly long, or the other is way beyond fashionably short.

Sizing is rarely accurate, even in Western shops, and even within the same batch. e.g. fabric is typically cut in batches piled on top of each other, and it's often not a straight cut. This is fine as such, although a few cm here or there can make a big difference in how comfterable clothes are or how well they look.

size charts[1] can solve that

[1] https%3A%2F%2Fa.storyblok.com%2Ff%2F162444%2F1654x2339%2Fcc948d7d27%2Fsize-chart-shirt-pro.png&w=3840&q=75

Honestly, clothing is the smallest item on my packing list. Camera gear and shoes are the biggest items. My clothes alone would fit in a tiny backpack. Underwear takes a bit of space, but I wouldn’t fancy wearing rented underwear.

But then maybe I’m atypical, because, when I look around at airports, it seems to me 90% of people there are moving permanently overseas, judging from the size of their luggage.

Speaking from experience, I keep mine empty for goodies and "souvenirs". Of course, in Japan, "souvenirs" to me means Japan-only tech, a thing of Japanese whiskey, and lots of padding...

Yep. It's easy to pack just a small amount of clothes for work/sightseeing, but it becomes nearly impossible to use just a carry-on if you want to take workout clothes & shoes, too, especially in colder weather, and in particular if you're an XL person with size 13 feet. :/

I just booked a (domestic US) trip where one ticket was $79 and the other was $19. Round trip it is $98. It's a three day trip.

I can get a backpack for free if it is 14x18x8. Otherwise, these low cost airlines want to charge you for a carry-on. That makes taking any change of clothing difficult. And, the bag charges are about $60 each way for a carry-on. That would over double the cost of my trip!

I'm thinking why not:

1) buy underwear and socks and even a shirt or two when I arrive, and just throw it away when I'm done. It's certainly less than $120. Could I wear the same pants for three days, sure!

2) I could stuff a few pairs of socks and underwear into a fanny pack. I bet I can get that on without fighting with that poor agent.

3) I could go to the airport with two bags, one which is a canvas bag that fits inside my backpack that has two changes of clothing. Before I board, I empty all the stuff out, and walk on the plane with three layers. They better not call me fat or I'll sue! Then, once I board, I go to the bathroom, go back to my seat with that bag refilled.

Its dystopian but kind of fun.

Polish people travelling low-cost to UK were hacking this limit with clever trench coats for ages, something like this

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2617989/amp/The-s...

Part of the plan (at least the way this idea is presented) is to reduce textile waste. So yeah, you can buy stuff at the destination and throw it away before leaving, but not exactly an environmentally smart idea.

(Btw, never been a biker myself but some friends told me that if you want to go on a holiday by bike... the smart idea is to leave with your oldest and worst underwear and stuff, and replace it with stuff you buy on your trip in order to keep your total baggage "constant", so to say).

I travel once a month for 3-5 days at a time.

Lot of airlines allow one personal baggage and one carry-on. Even if there's no personal, when it is just a 3 day trip I'm able to pack everything just in my backpack.

A great innovation. I could (and would) use this on a trip I'm taking next week.

I used to just leave a suitcase in our Japanese office. Not a great solution. Then again, you used to be able to take an intercontinental flight with no luggage, just a book, without raising suspicion. Nowadays you have to carry a decoy carry-on.

They're calculating CO2 reduction based on 10kg of clothing, and you can rent for 2 weeks.

Who brings 10kg of clothing for a 2-week trip? This doesn't include shoes.

So it's 10kg of tops and bottoms for a 2-week trip.

10kgs sounds a lot but it's actually not that much if you factor in the fact that if you go on a 2 weeks trip you bring some unnecessary but maybe useful items: a jacket in case it rains, sweaters in case it gets cold at night, maybe you planned a fancy night, so you bring something less casual than usual, spares, in case it's too hot and you need to change more than once a day or it rains a lot and you can't keep up with laundry/drying etc. I don't usually travel with 10kg of clothes, but I usually travel with a 10kg luggage (clothes + laptop + luggage itself) and in the end it's usually just barely enough to get by.

It's not average but it's not crazy either if you've got a heavy winter or leather jacket and a couple pairs of heavy jeans. Even just casual button-down Oxford shirts are pretty heavy.

Men's dress clothing is fairly lightweight, as is summer clothing. But men's casual non-summer clothing can actually be surprisingly heavy, depending on your style.

Keep in mind your average suitcase weighs between 3-5kg empty.

Seems like an easy way of reducing CO2 emissions. Looking forward to the results on this - could get a lot of backpackers if they cheapen the tickets as well.

For 40US$ I can get this: https://anywearanywhere.store/products/men-spring-fall-casua... (5 tops + 3 bottoms). No underwear, of course. No shoes. No coat. No toiletries.

Would this be enough for me to totally ditch checked baggage on the inbound flight? Probably not. So I will pay 40US$ but probably still need more baggage than what I can carry in a backpack.

And for sure I will need baggage to take stuff back home (actually when I go to Japan I carry an empty bag in my checked baggage just to fill it up with stuff that I buy in Japan, but of course YMMV).

So are my 40$ really having some positive impact on the environment, or is this more like virtue signalling but with little actual result?

Compare this with Lufthansa, for example, who lets you pay a surcharge to your ticket in order to use eco-friendly fuel (https://www.lufthansagroup.com/en/responsibility/climate-env...).

If you are extremely concerned about sustainable travelling, maybe the Lufthansa alternative is just more practical (for the customer) while it is really difficult to determine if the Japanese idea is actually better for the environment (they also reduce textile waste, but for me it is really difficult to figure out how much of an impact this has).

If you are concerned about environmental impact of your travels, then fewer long-distance flying would have a much much bigger effect than futzing with clothes packed or not.

Not saying you shouldn't travel the world if you can (personal choice). But the CO2 impact is right there as a result of that flying. CO2 compensation? Ehm.. whatever. Mostly greenwashing imho.

Interesting concept though. I'd be up for the logical extreme: travel naked, at destination obtain clothes as needed.

The Lufthansa offer is no greenwashing via CO2 compensation. It is CO2 neutral fuel ("SAL"). This is the way to go. The downside is that it is a (currently) very expensive option. Then again, if I would be a movie star or the like, I would check this box every time I fly.

>If you are concerned about environmental impact of your travels, then fewer long-distance flying would have a much much bigger effect than futzing with clothes packed or not.

Since most readers here are probably American, I wonder what the difference in CO2 is between 1) flying to Japan and spending 2-3 weeks there, and riding some trains while you're there, and 2) staying in the US and driving your 6000-lb SUV across the country to someplace for your vacation, or 3) staying at home, driving your SUV around town as usual, and keeping your 6000-square-foot house heated or cooled that whole time.

I'm not so sure flying intercontinentally is really that bad compared to even the regular daily CO2 output of most Americans.

Yes, actually I would be more interested if this was more radical. I have been to Japan 4 times already (last one was in February).

For the kind of travel I am interested in, renting 99% of my stuff at the arrival would be fine. But:

1) there are some things (e.g. contact lenses liquid, aikido uniform) who may not be included anyway because somehow of a "niche" requirement.

2) I still need to take back much more stuff than what I took with me on my incoming flight. Of course most of it could just be sent by post (and surface travel, i.e. by ship, would still be ok for most of it).

But until I get enough incentives to do it, I don't think I would make my life more complicated to save the equivalent of 7-10kg of cargo.

>I'd be up for the logical extreme: travel naked

Planes are already overly cold as it is!

Next: cuddle flights...

Stack it a few layers... hope nobody from Ryanair reads this.

Cooking oil based SAF is dead end. It's too tiny amount of waste cooking oil is available compared to how much oil used for aviation.

In 2 weeks, I'm supposed to fly to Japan for an anniversary/vacation, but unfortunately cancelled because I got sick.

Would we have tried this? Probably not. TBH I'm not sure that clothing is the biggest culprit for our luggage weight on the way there. And it's definitely not on the return flight.

Sounds like a great idea, but Japanese sizes are smaller than Western sizes. When I lived there they almost ever had anything in XL even in Japanese sizes and there was never anything remotely big enough for this gaijin.

What a strange idea ? Are clothes really heavy ? Just put a tax on heavier luggage ?

Yeah, I wonder how it'll ever work, who wears borrowed clothes?

European car manufacturers have (had?) offers where they'll fly you to Sweden (Volvo) or Germany (BMW, Audi), pick up your car at their HQ, have a European road-trip on their dime, return the car to them and they'll take care of shipping it to the US. Apparently it's cheaper than paying taxes importing an unsold car to the US.

If we weren't in the climate end-times, it'd be an interesting idea to show up to Japan and get a curated wardrobe to wear and take home with you.

> Yeah, I wonder how it'll ever work, who wears borrowed clothes?

Actors. Supermodels. Celebrities.

Nobody owns a tuxedo either. The idea of renting clothes isn't that farfetched...

> get a curated wardrobe to wear and take home with you.

Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Otherwise, just don't pack any clothes and buy everything you're going to wear once you're there.

> Nobody owns a tuxedo

Many people own tuxedos.

Ahem, it’s a dinner jacket

This is one step closer to my dream of being able to jump on a plane and wander around something with nothing other than an id card.

What a laughably bad idea. Spend extra money on top of your already expensive vacation to look like some normcore sheep in the process all so some airline can do a bit of deeply cynical greenwashing. Personally you couldn't pay me to wear "Rental" clothes, as I actually enjoy the personal expression of you know, being a grown up and dressing myself, and the miniscule amount of carbon emissions saved here are a literal drop in the ocean compared to the flood of emissions of biblical proportions emitted by the corporations.

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