Make a packing list from your wardrobe

Packing goes wrong in two predictable ways: too many "just in case" pieces, or a suitcase full of tops and nothing to wear them with. Planning outfits before planning items fixes both. Outfello has no dedicated packing feature, so this page is upfront about that and shows how to build a packing list from your wardrobe with the tools it does have: the outfit builder and saved looks.

What Outfello does and does not do for travel

There is no packing list, no checklist to tick off, no trip planner and no destination weather forecast for future dates. Outfello does not know you are travelling.

What it does have is a gallery of cut-outs of your own clothes and an outfit builder with slots for jacket, top, bottoms, shoes and accessories. Saved looks stay in the gallery grid next to their pieces. That is enough to plan a trip by outfit, which is a sounder way to pack than by item anyway.

Building a packing list from your wardrobe

The workaround takes one evening before you leave:

1. Count the days. Write down how many days you will be away and what each day holds: travel, a dinner, a walk, a meeting.
2. Build one outfit per day. Open the outfit builder and make a look for day one. Use the colour filter on each slot to keep to a narrow palette, so pieces can be reused.
3. Save it. Give each saved look a clear name so you can find it later, such as "Lisbon day 2".
4. Reuse deliberately. For day two, keep the same bottoms or shoes and change the top. Aim for each piece to appear in at least two looks.
5. Read off the pieces. When every day has a look, go through the saved outfits and note each piece they use, counting each one once. That is your packing list.

The pack a suitcase from outfits guide goes into how many outfits to plan for trips of different lengths and how to handle the outfit you travel in.

Keeping the list small

A trip is a short-term capsule wardrobe. The same rules help:

• Pick one base colour for bottoms and shoes, then vary tops around it.
• Let shoes do double duty. Shoes take the most room, so test every look with the same one or two pairs before adding a third.
• Plan layers, not extra outfits. A jacket that works with every top covers cooler evenings without packing more.

If a piece appears in only one saved look, ask whether another piece could stand in for it. The capsule wardrobe page covers the same judgement for everyday dressing.

Checking looks before you pack

For looks you are unsure about, such as a dinner outfit you have never worn together, render the saved outfit head to toe onto your full-body reference photo. Each render uses one try-on from your plan's monthly allowance, and a failed render returns the credit. That can save packing a combination that turns out not to work.

Using the daily planner while away

On paid plans, the daily planner suggests an outfit for today or tomorrow based on the weather in a city you choose, checking feels-like temperature, rain and wind against each garment's warmth, coverage and protection. Switch the city to where you are staying and it will work with the forecast there.

It suggests from your whole wardrobe, not from what is in your suitcase. To keep it to what you packed, mark the pieces you left at home as unavailable, and set them back when you return. On paid plans you can also plan each day of the trip on the outfit calendar ahead of time, so the looks you built are waiting on the right dates. Planner details are on the outfit planner page.

Limits

Building and saving outfits works on every plan. Try-on renders use a monthly allowance and the daily planner needs a paid plan; current allowances are on the pricing page. Toiletries, chargers and documents are not clothes, so they belong on a separate list.

When you are back, delete the trip looks you will not wear again, or keep the good ones as ready-made outfits for next time.