Look, it has pockets!
It's what every woman says when a dress finally does. It's time to stop treating functional pockets like a bonus. We're collecting signatures to deliver to the brands that make our clothes, and asking them to sew pockets that actually work.
A phone, in a pocket. A revolutionary idea.
The numbers, since everyone keeps asking.
In 2018, The Pudding measured the front pockets of 80 pairs of jeans from 20 major brands, every pair a 32-inch waist, so the same size person. The results were not a design choice. They were a policy.
Nearly half the size
Women's front pockets average 5.6 inches deep. Men's: 9.1. On jeans that fit the same waist.
Can't hold a phone
Only 40% of women's jeans studied could fit a smartphone. Every single pair of men's jeans could. Every single one.
Not even a hand
Only 10% of women's front pockets could fit a woman's hand. Not the phone. Not the wallet. The hand.
Source: Jan Diehm & Amber Thomas, “Women's Pockets are Inferior”, The Pudding, 2018. It still holds up.
Once, women had the bigger pockets.
This isn't a conspiracy. It's a series of fashion decisions, made over a few hundred years, that we're asking someone to undo.
1600s–1700s. Women had the bigger pockets.
Tie-on pockets, tied around the waist and hidden under petticoats, could hold coins, letters, keys and even snacks! More storage than most men's clothing of the day offered.
1800s. Fashion went thin. The handbag was born.
Slim, high-waisted gowns left no room for hidden pockets. Women began carrying small bags called reticules, and from there the handbag industry quickly became one of fashion's biggest businesses.
c. 1910. The suffragette suit.
Practical suits with real, functional pockets became a uniform of the movement. Turns out pockets were always political and we've just forgotten.
1954. The line that became policy.
“Men have pockets to keep things in, women for decoration.”
— Christian Dior. The fashion industry appears to have taken it as instruction.
Today. A $23.5 billion reason.
The luxury handbag market is enormous and a free useful pocket is its fiercest competitor. That's a business reason for small pockets, not a design reason.
It's not a big list.
Pockets that hold a phone.
It fits. All the way in. You can sit down, and it stays.
Pockets that hold keys.
So the door, the car, and the office never become a one-person search party.
Pockets that hold a hand.
For the cold, or the thinking, or just standing somewhere without a bag.
We're not asking for cargo pants. Just a seam.
Thirty seconds. Then a delivery.
At 50,000 signatures, we bring this list to the companies that make our clothes. First name is enough, Email and comments are optional!
Your name stays with us. Email is used only for milestone updates, after all we're campaigning about pockets, not newsletters.
We're bringing the list to you.
Here's who receives 50,000 signatures the day we cross the line.
50,000 signatures, one envelope, a very clear message.
If you make clothing for women and you'd like to be the first brand to respond, you know where to reach us. We'll be here.