They’re either too small for any practical use
or entirely nonexistent.
And it’s not for lack of wanting.
A data viz website called The Pudding measured pocket sizes on 80 different pairs of jeans,
comparing men’s and women’s versions with the same waist size.
The results varied per brand – Abercrombie, for example, showed very little difference
in pocket size, while brands like J. Crew showed as much as
a 5 inch difference in depth between men’s and women’s jeans.
On average women’s front pockets are 48% shorter and 6.5% narrower than a man’s –
Meaning the majority of women’s jeans are completely impractical for most things
we carry around.
But it wasn’t always this way – in fact women used to have really large pockets.
And just how large are we talking?
It's kind of like this.
Really large.
From the 17th century through the 19th century women’s pockets were these large detachable
things that tied onto a woman’s waist underneath her skirts.
There were unfashionable, they were not very sightly, but they made perfect practical sense.
Because it didn't pull on the dress, you could take them off during the day if they were
too heavy – You could change your pockets.
In the 18th and the 19th century when these were really the norm, there were no complaints
about women having no pockets. But over time the silhouettes of dresses began
to change and so did attitudes towards pockets.
Fashion journalists began rallying against the tie-in pocket, in favor of the reticule
-- a small purse.
And you have two sides,
you have those who call themselves the "pocketists" and those who are the "anti-pocketists."
And the pocketists say, “no we like our old-fashioned pocket.
They're practical, you know, they allow women to be independent.”
And you have the anti-pocketists, who say "oh no,
these are for grannies, modern women want the fashionable reticule."
Despite these new trends, tie-in pockets were
still very convenient and many women weren’t ready to give them up.
Especially because dressmakers struggled to include integral pockets in women’s clothing.
They often placed them in inconvenient places like the bustle or the hem, making them difficult
to find and frustratingly small.
Meanwhile tailors had been perfecting pockets since the 16th century in menswear and at
this point they were including various specialized pockets for all different types of objects.
So there's increasing discourse at the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century,
it was like why can't we have pockets?
We want pockets.
We want pocket equality. You know, why are women forced to wear a handbag
– it’s so impractical – whereas men have everything in their pockets.
As more women entered the workforce, wearing pants became more mainstream.
In the 1930’s Levi Strauss introduced the first pair of women’s blue-jeans with pockets
that measured within a quarter inch of mens pockets, but these were primarily used
by women who worked on ranches.
It wasn’t until nearly 30 years later that blue jeans became the norm in fashion and
from there, women’s pockets fell victim to fashion over function:
As styles began to slim and favor thinner waistlines, our pockets began to disappear
because they ruined the silhouette – Adding a front pocket to a pair of skinny
jeans, for example, would stretch out the fabric in unflattering places for many women
– especially because women's jeans tend to have a little extra stretch.
And even when there’s nothing in them, the lines of the pocket sac still show through,
which is why many designers have removed the front pocket altogether.
While designers are now incorporating pockets into dresses again, and adding them
to workout leggings, we’re still kind of waiting on jeans.
It’s been over a century since tie-in pockets have been phased out in women’s clothing
and we've been asking for replacements ever since.
But for now, most women’s pockets are still
about fashion – not function.
And while the fashion industry is slowly responding – hopefully we won’t have to wait another
100 years for them to really figure it out.
Hey there, thanks for The Goods and thanks to our sponsor American Express.
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