Pockets, Where Art Thou?

Thistle

Okay, I know how we all lament the lack of pockets in dresses.
And dress pants.
And skirts.
And really, anywhere.

But here was a new one on me. I ordered two pair of lucky jeans to try before I got some fab recommendations from you all. They arrived last night. I tried a pair on, and while they weren;t great, they might have been passable. Except...

NO POCKETS

They had stitched the outside to *look* like pockets, but they weren't even sewn shut. Just not there.

My husband took one look at them and had more than a few snarky comments.

Seriously. Jeans should have pockets!

7 years ago

Dressing

21 replies

Latest reply was from kkards

Sara L.

Veteran

Too funny! It's like on boy's swim trunks where it looks like they have a drawstring waist but the strings are really just a decoration. Why?!

7 years ago

Sisi

Veteran

Yes. I have had a pair of jeans exactly as you describe. I think they were designed like this to look sleeker on the hips, but actually they were very inconvenient.

7 years ago

JAileen

Veteran

This is an outrage! Even if we use a handbag, we still need pockets. I like to have a piece of kleenex in my pocket because you never know when you might need one.

7 years ago

Like the Season

Active Member

I agree. That's just wrong.

7 years ago

Joyce B

Veteran

Also there are no pockets on many jackets and even coats. I don’t know what they are thinking, or if they are thinking anything other than cost cutting.

7 years ago

Thistle

Veteran

Exactly, Joyce!

I actually bought a men's fleece coat to take the kids to the park so I'd have a coat with pockets. Not just any pockets, but pockets big enough to hold my cell phone.

I know, it looks kind of frumpy, but oh so practical!

7 years ago

cindysmith

Veteran

I just don't get it. Its discrimination against an entire class/group of people, and it should be illegal for manufacturers to omit pockets on women's clothes.

Women like to put stuff in their pockets, too. Money, Kleenex, snacks (yes I have literally kept snacks in my cargo pockets before)

7 years ago

Cardiff girl

Veteran

This is one of the reasons I m learning to sew,I can now put pockets in!I think manufacturers are just looking for ways to cut their margins and leaving pockets out is one of the things that they can do and hope we won’t notice.

7 years ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran

One of my gripes with jeans in recent years is that many of the pockets have gotten so shallow that they're barely usable! But no pockets at all just seems wrong.

7 years ago

Like the Season

Active Member

My new Levi's 505C jeans (yesterday's WIW) have gloriously huge front pockets. Aah, just like the old days.

7 years ago

Aquamarine

Veteran

That’s crazy. It would drive me nuts

7 years ago

elpgal

Veteran

Yeah, that is just plain weird.

Sara L, that's a pet peeve of mine! I think they add them so kids can tell the front/back apart

7 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

I think the worst thing is fake pocket flaps. Hello! I can SEE those are just flappy bits hanging off there for no reason! It’s weird!

7 years ago

unfrumped

Veteran

So wrong!

I lost cash on an airplane flight once because my small, thin, compact travel wallet apparently squeezed up out of the now obviously too- shallow front pocket on my jeans.

I confess I like it that some work trousers have no side pockets. It depends on the style but often they do more gaping than good, since the cut may be intended to be sleeker, and also things in your pockets will bulge and also strain the fabric.

7 years ago

Thistle

Veteran

If I could sew, I'd add my own.

I am half tempted to buy men's jeans.

7 years ago

Windchime

Veteran

The pockets are in the menswear department.

7 years ago

Anonymous

I recently came across a tally I made in frustration in 1998 when I suspected pockets were vanishing. I had kept occasional Talbots catalogs over the years thinking they would illustrate the style of clothes I wore without actually keeping my clothes..or having my picture taken.
Tally for representative "work clothes" ( the skirts and dresses shown in catalog in what would now be formal end of business casual )
% with pockets
1986 skirts 68%,dresses 40%
1992 skirts 50%, dresses 33%
1998 skirts 0%, dresses 23%
Cursory check of a recent Talbots catalog shows few skirts, none with pockets , and 25% dresses with pockets, most of those on casual end.

7 years ago

Echo

Veteran

Yes, my DD laughs that women carry handbags because their pants have pockets that are only an inch deep. And, indeed, inch deep pockets are as bad or worse than no pockets because they aren't large enough to hold anything, but are just enough that they end up hanging out after you put them on unless you very carefully tuck them in. She has also lamented a number of times that her jackets do not have inner pockets like the ones her brothers have. But much of women's clothing is anything but practical.

7 years ago

Janet

(website)

Veteran