And you thought you know everything about Pockets!

I had a different subject that I wanted to write about this week but then I was watching CBS Sunday Morning and they did a segment on Pockets.  I was fascinated by the History.

Since most of you, My Tribe, are always asking for pockets, I decided you might be interested as well.

So, did you know that pockets initially were invented only for men?!  Ha!  That just couldn't be right but we know that as women we had to fight for everything so why not pockets?

Throwback to the middle ages.  Both men and women lugged around little pouches with them. They made clothing with slits so you could easily access the pouch.  That we would say is when Men and Women were equal at least when it came to pockets.

Then in the 17th century the idea came to sew the pouches right into the clothing.  Pockets were born.  But sadly, that was for men only.  Women still had to have separate pouches under their petticoats.  It was generally tied around her waist so in order to access the pocket she had to almost get undressed to access it.

Eventually they put pockets into garments that were a bit more fitted and modern but even then we were discriminated against.  The pockets were not very deep.  The average pocket for a woman was 4" deep where a mans pocket was 8" deep.  And how many of you would walk up to a jacket or a dress that had pockets and they were not real pockets.  Just decorative.

I won't even get into the politics of it because if you are reading this you probably know the inequities we faced and still do today.  As a designer who often does not put pockets in clothing (a lot of the reasons for that in pants is many of my customers have complained it makes them look to hippy.  And not the 60's kind.)

Having said that I am going to be rethinking pockets.  Now for me it is political.  I want pocket equality.  How about you?