Packing Light and Right

When he goes on a business trip, Jerome Griffith, president and chief executive of bag maker Tumi, keeps his own luggage as minimal as possible.

To simplify traveling and save on airlines’ bag-check fees, Mr. Griffith tries to limit himself to one carry-on suitcase—even for trips as long as a week. “When you’re going through an airport, you want to get in and out as quickly as possible,” he says.

Mr. Griffith is judicious about what he puts in his suitcase, which is 20 inches long—comfortably within airlines’ carry-on limits—and made of black leather, a color he says won’t “show dirt.” To start his packing, he takes out the “suiter,” a compartment designed for suits, in order to free up more room. He works in a casual business environment, he explains.

Typically, he wears a white collared shirt, black jeans or slacks, boots and a dark blazer on the plane, and he packs an extra pair of jeans or slacks and a shirt for each day that he’ll be on the road. He tries to keep the items he packs in the same color range—gray, white and black, for example. “Sometimes you have to wake up at 4:30 or 5 a.m., and you don’t want to have to think too hard about what to wear,” he says. Read more