Pockets for women

[Anonymous]

Women who really want pockets just buy men's pants. Ever since skinny jeans became a thing, there are several slim fits in men's sizes that have deep, useful pockets.

[Anonymous]

I think women who say they want pockets actually want pockets. I don't think women are lying about this.

I also don't think it's a purposeful conspiracy to deprive women of pockets. As others have said, the main reasons women clothes don't have pocket is aesthetics (form fitting clothes for which pockets would add bulk) or production cost (women consume a lot more "fast fashion" than men, and also tend to buy/have more clothing generally, so a lot of women clothes are manufactured cheaply and pockets are an easy step to eliminate to keep production costs low).

However, I do think the absence of pockets on a lot of women's clothing reflects "patriarchy" and ways in which women's needs as regular human beings aren't met.

For instance, WHY are women's clothes generally more form-fitting than men's? Why would a woman worry about whether pockets on clothes "add bulk" when a man might not care as much? Well, inequitable standards of appearance, for starters. Women are encouraged to wear clothes that show their figure and clothes that don't are derided as insufficiently flattering or feminine. Women are told to never, ever, add excess bulk to their silhouette, even in the name of practicality or comfort. Thus, the way men dress feels off limits for many women, but especially heterosexual women in their 20s and 30s, because this is the group most concerned about looking attractive to heterosexual men, and thus may find themselves buying clothes that don't have pockets, even though pockets are useful, because they fear it will make them look unattractive and they want to find a mate.

So it's not a conspiracy and yes, clothing manufacturers are responding to market demands. BUT those market demands don't always reflect what women actually want or find comfortable or would wear if they had true freedom to dress how they wanted to and not how the men they are hoping to attract so that they can get married and have children want them to dress. For instance, I am in my 40s, married and already have kids, and I have no trouble finding clothes with pockets. But I also wear roomier clothes now. Middle aged mom clothes. I am comfortable and I have somewhere to put my phone. But I'm also often reminded that this means I'm no longer attractive to a lot of men. I'm okay with that (honestly, it's welcome) but it can be a weird transition after being told for decades that being attractive to that group of people is the most important thing. Which is why for years I wore a lot of clothes without pockets and also resented it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Women who really want pockets just buy men's pants. Ever since skinny jeans became a thing, there are several slim fits in men's sizes that have deep, useful pockets.

Men's pants are not an option for a lot of women with hips and butts. Very few mens pants are cut to accommodate this body type.

But sure, a woman who is slim with narrow hips could buy mens pants in order to get usable pockets.

Some brands that are geared toward more utilitarian wear also consistently give women useful pockets: LL Bean, Athleta are the two that spring to mind. Not all their pants, but many of them. I've also found that Everlane gives women reasonable pockets.

[Anonymous]

Most of us do want pockets. Functional pockets. Many designers know this and seem to try to add them where possible (Lands End, etc) but many don’t. The clothing design business is odd - have you noticed that sometimes there is one main color that every store sells? Or one style? When I got married, strapless dresses were 95% of the dress options. I went out of my way to seek sleeves and ended up trying on one dress with sleeves. One. Now, prairie prints are the rage. I don’t know anyone who wants to look like a depressed Laura Ingalls, but the stores keep pumping out this crap. This year mustard yellow is in fashion, so I’m not buying anything. I’ll wait because I saw that next year the hot color might be magenta. I’ve taken to making my own clothes since I can’t find what I want. And I used to be in the design business, and designed clothes in NY. So even though it seems obvious that women want pockets, it’s expensive to start a new design and bring it to market.

[Anonymous]

I don't like pockets, they add bulges where I don't want bulges.

[Anonymous]

I want pockets! But I think the manufacturing costs are probably lower with no pockets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want pockets! But I think the manufacturing costs are probably lower with no pockets.

They’re also lower without sleeves. Yet somehow the mens clothing can figure this out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see a fair amount of Internet commentary about women wanting pockets for their clothes. The lack of pockets is usually explained in a joking-not-joking way as a conspiracy of the patriarchy. Is there actually pent up demand for women's clothes that have pockets? If so, it seems like some entrepreneurs could make a fantastic amount of money by offering women's clothes with pockets, and I wonder why they haven't. My guess is that women say they want pockets, but by and large, when they go looking for clothes, they think the stuff that does have pockets is ugly and choose something else.

But I'm just a dude with no background in the clothing industry and who rarely shops for clothes anyway. Anyone with insight into what's *really* going on here?

Not only no pockets but no knitted cuffs in long sleeve tees. Also, socks for women have built in obsolescence for around 6 months whereas socks for men last years. I stopped buying women's socks decades ago. As long as we're on the subject, I also buy men's shirts because they are made better and much less expensive.

There is no end to the many ways women are discriminated against. I want a true revolution NOW!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see a fair amount of Internet commentary about women wanting pockets for their clothes. The lack of pockets is usually explained in a joking-not-joking way as a conspiracy of the patriarchy. Is there actually pent up demand for women's clothes that have pockets? If so, it seems like some entrepreneurs could make a fantastic amount of money by offering women's clothes with pockets, and I wonder why they haven't. My guess is that women say they want pockets, but by and large, when they go looking for clothes, they think the stuff that does have pockets is ugly and choose something else.

But I'm just a dude with no background in the clothing industry and who rarely shops for clothes anyway. Anyone with insight into what's *really* going on here?

Not only no pockets but no knitted cuffs in long sleeve tees. Also, socks for women have built in obsolescence for around 6 months whereas socks for men last years. I stopped buying women's socks decades ago. As long as we're on the subject, I also buy men's shirts because they are made better and much less expensive.

There is no end to the many ways women are discriminated against. I want a true revolution NOW!

I buy women socks and they all last for years. My DH goes through his socks faster, but he also goes through shoes faster. He's just hard on his feet.

I also buy womens shirts and look for quality. Probably the reason you have found a lot of poor quality women shirts in the past is that a lot of women clothes have a high lycra content. This is true of women's clothes in general and is a major reason they don't last as long -- added stretch in the fabric weakens the integrity of the fabric, plus wearing clothes that are designed to stretch and be form fitting puts more pressure on seams. If you prioritize fabrics with lower lycra content, and look for brands that tend to have high quality stitching and seaming, you will find women's clothes last as long as mens.

I mean, you are welcome to buy menswear if you want to, but if you actually want a "revolution", you would do better to research and buy women's clothing that meets your standards, as this will improve sales of those items and incentivize the industry to make more of them. If you just buy menswear, they don't know that you're buying it and continue producing menswear and womenswear with different fabric content and quality.

[Anonymous]

I have to ask my dh to carry keys and tissue for me when we go walking, because most women's clothes have no pockets. It's a pain for both of us.

I stuff tissues up the arms of my long sleeves, because I have no pockets.

I would lose my keys and phone at work, because I would have no pockets in most outfits.

I learned how to sew to add pockets to some of my clothing.
I also started wearing men's joggers to I could have some @#$& pockets when I went walking. And, men's fleece has a number of pockets, my women's fleece has zero pockets.

Fortunately, I am tall and large enough to fit into men's joggers and fleece so I can finally have some pockets when I walk.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and like the other pp, I stopped buying women's socks a decade ago and only buy men's now.

[Anonymous]

Several years ago I started only buying dresses that have pockets. Then I had a tailor put pockets into my old ones. I love pockets. Many many women do want this. The worst is how hard it is to filter on websites for them. If you had a dedicated store yes I would be a loyal customer but if other stores could just add that filter it would be so helpful.

[Anonymous]

All of my jeans and joggers have pockets. Many yoga pants have pockets. The zip up sweatshirt that I am currently wearing has pockets. What kind of clothes is the OP looking for?

[Anonymous]

My mom grew up at a time when it was considered “unladylike” for women to put their hands in their pockets. So, her mother taught her to sew the pockets closed on any clothing item that had them. And she considered herself very virtuous for avoiding ever putting her hands in her pockets! Apparently, this was fairly common practice at that time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see a fair amount of Internet commentary about women wanting pockets for their clothes. The lack of pockets is usually explained in a joking-not-joking way as a conspiracy of the patriarchy. Is there actually pent up demand for women's clothes that have pockets? If so, it seems like some entrepreneurs could make a fantastic amount of money by offering women's clothes with pockets, and I wonder why they haven't. My guess is that women say they want pockets, but by and large, when they go looking for clothes, they think the stuff that does have pockets is ugly and choose something else.

But I'm just a dude with no background in the clothing industry and who rarely shops for clothes anyway. Anyone with insight into what's *really* going on here?

Not only no pockets but no knitted cuffs in long sleeve tees. Also, socks for women have built in obsolescence for around 6 months whereas socks for men last years. I stopped buying women's socks decades ago. As long as we're on the subject, I also buy men's shirts because they are made better and much less expensive.

There is no end to the many ways women are discriminated against. I want a true revolution NOW!

I buy women socks and they all last for years. My DH goes through his socks faster, but he also goes through shoes faster. He's just hard on his feet.

I also buy womens shirts and look for quality. Probably the reason you have found a lot of poor quality women shirts in the past is that a lot of women clothes have a high lycra content. This is true of women's clothes in general and is a major reason they don't last as long -- added stretch in the fabric weakens the integrity of the fabric, plus wearing clothes that are designed to stretch and be form fitting puts more pressure on seams. If you prioritize fabrics with lower lycra content, and look for brands that tend to have high quality stitching and seaming, you will find women's clothes last as long as mens.

I mean, you are welcome to buy menswear if you want to, but if you actually want a "revolution", you would do better to research and buy women's clothing that meets your standards, as this will improve sales of those items and incentivize the industry to make more of them. If you just buy menswear, they don't know that you're buying it and continue producing menswear and womenswear with different fabric content and quality.

I'll tell what, when you start paying for my clothes then I will be forced to listen to your lectures. Until then, I will purchase what I want and like. Okay?