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Fashion Design

Women's Pockets Really Suck

Designer Jan Diehm and journalist-engineer Amber Thomas visualize the data for you

By Rain Noe - August 16, 2018

Last month at the DMV, I was switching my driver's license over to my new state of residence. The clerk showed me a screen where I could double-check my data, and I saw that she had accidentally listed my gender as female. "Can you backspace over that," I asked, "or do I have to get the operation?"

Aside from said operation, I think the biggest hassle of switching from male to female would be adjusting to women's clothes. Especially the lack of carrying space. The notion that females should be bereft of usable pocket space and forced to carry a dedicated, expensive storage object--whose fashionableness is meant to invite judgment from others--seems crazy to me.

"There are few things more frustrating than collecting your belongings only to realize that the pockets in your pants are too small to hold them," writes designer Jan Diehm and journalist-engineer Amber Thomas. "Or worse, the fabric designed to look like a pocket is merely for decoration and doesn't open at all." The pair decided to get to the bottom of shallow women's pockets using data: "[We found] complaints and anecdotes galore but little data illustrating just how inferior women's pockets really are to men's. So, we went there."

In an article in The Pudding, Diehm and Thomas created visualizations based on studying pockets from men and women's pants from 20 popular-in-America brands. By overlaying the pocket shapes of 80 pairs of jeans, they revealed the following:

Image credit: Jan Diehm/Amber Thomas/The Pudding

They also created an interactive to show how some commonly-carried items do (or don't) fit into each gender's pocket:

Image credit: Jan Diehm/Amber Thomas/The Pudding

We don't want to steal all of The Pudding's images, and there are plenty more that we recommend you read on their site: Skinny jeans vs. straight, front pockets and rear pockets, a breakdown by brand and more.

"Pockets, unlike purses, are hidden, private spaces," the pair concluded. "By restricting the space in which women can keep things safe and retain mobility of both hands, we are also restricting their ability to 'navigate public spaces, to carry seditious (or merely amorous) writing, or to travel unaccompanied.' If you think this idea is outdated, think about the last time a woman asked her boyfriend/male friend/anyone in men's pants to carry her phone/wallet/keys on an outing.

Read the full article here.

Fashion Design

Rain Noe

Rain Noe is a writer and industrial designer based in New York City.

9 Comments

Donald Jones

a year ago

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1Z

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Now do a story about how much larger women's wallets are compared to men's.

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- Emily Engle
  
  Donald Jones
  
  a year ago
  
  Z
  
  5Z
  
  Reply
  
  I wish it was because we made more money
  
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  - Donald Jones
    
    Emily Engle
    
    a year ago
    
    Z
    
    Z
    
    Oh, you're counting all the spare change. OK then.
    
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Carla Botticelli

a year ago

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More than a little upset at the casual and unnecessary transphobia in your opening paragraphs. As a person transitioning male to female, I was not pleased to read that "adjusting to women's clothes" would be the most difficult part of my transition (after "the operation", of course, which of course is all it will take for the world to see me as a woman). I come to core77 to connect with my professional community, and having my identity be the punchline in an article lede does not make me feel welcome here.

You should educate yourself on trans issues. It's 2018, there's no excuse for this broad-strokes BS anymore.

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Angel Lamb

a year ago

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I Agree with you

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Karl Hungus

a year ago

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But if you read the actual manual that comes with the phone it says that keeping the device less than 3 to 5 inches away from your body for repeated amounts of time will increase the risk of tissue degradation, skin rashes, cancer, etc.

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Scott Brown

a year ago

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The struggle is real. I refuse to buy a phone that won't fit in the right side leg pocket on a pair of Carhartts, and I'm sure as heck not going to keep a phone in a side or back pocket - it'd be broken within a day. Dickie's makes decent work pants, but the main side pockets are practically self-emptying when one sits down - the way the pocket entrance scoops low toward the rear (end).

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Eric Strebel

a year ago

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I agree. What baffles me even more is why women would buy pants with pockets like that? Vote with your dollars. It must not be a bad enough issue if people continue to purchase products they are not happy with.... Some of that responsibility has to land on the consumer as well. There are definitely products out there with big enough pockets for women to use. I see Ladies with LuLulemon pants that have big enough pockets to cary their Plus phones.

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- Victoria K. Brown
  
  Eric Strebel
  
  a year ago
  
  Z
  
  2Z
  
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  True, but you realize that the average woman can't afford Lululemon, or wear Lululemon to work as it is mostly activewear. A majority of the more affordable brands have the small pockets. It seems like it's an intentionally ignored design and user experience flaw. Everyone woman/girl I know complains about this!
  
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