Whatever the reason was for putting shoes in a carrier bag, it wasn’t a good one.
Why it earns its carry-on spot
For years I packed shoes in plastic carrier bags, which works in the narrow sense that the soles don’t touch your clothes. It also rustles, splits, and looks like exactly what it is when you open your case at the other end.
A proper drawstring bag does the same job without any of that, and at this size it turns out to be useful for considerably more than shoes. I keep one for laundry on the go, which solves the recurring problem of worn clothes going back into a case alongside clean ones. Light enough that packing two or three costs you nothing, and they fold to nothing on the way home.
The kind of small fix that makes a suitcase behave itself.
TRY IT FOR
Shoes in a suitcase: Soles kept away from clean clothes, without the carrier bag noise and the split seam on day three.
Laundry on the go: Worn clothes separated from clean ones, which is the single biggest improvement you can make to a two-week case.
Wet swimwear on the way home: Contained until you can deal with it, rather than damp against everything else.
Keeping a bag tidy at home: Gym kit, spare trainers, anything you’d rather not have loose in a holdall.
