Pockets!

[redbird]

I've spent what feels like an inordinate amount of time not trying on pants lately--I keep going into stores, sticking my hand into pockets, and moving on to the next style.

For some reason--payoffs from the pickpocket and purse-snatching lobbies, perhaps--almost every manufacturer seems to be making the front pockets on women's trousers 1/3 to 1/2 the size they were a year ago. This is not big enough. My wallet should not stick out of my pants pocket.

I've looked at jeans and several other styles, from a variety of manufacturers, in a variety of stores. Also a catalog: after one disappointment, I'm not prepared to order pants from a catalog without speaking to a customer rep and asking how deep and wide the front pockets are. (Yes, that includes styles you've been satisfied with in the past, because it includes a style I've been satisfied with in the past and got burned by.)

I feel rather like Yossarian--that they're doing this to other people doesn't make me feel any less persecuted.

[That, plus a disappointing goat curry lunch purchased because I wanted something comforting after the latest clothing shopping attempt, is what prompted me to buy extra userpic space.]

Comments

[pameladean]

I hate clothing manufacturers so much. It's as if the fact that real people with opinions are going to wear their productions were a mere irrelevant by-issue.

That said, Deva Lifewear's pants have pockets, some of them quite deep. I can put an entire 20-oz bottle of water in the front pocket of their Freedom Pants, and they have several other styles without the funny elastic anklebands that also have side pockets that deep.

www.devalifewear.com/

P.

[redbird]

I'm trying to remember what I disliked about the Deva pants I bought a decade or more ago (I'm quite happy with their shirts); I have a vague feeling that the deva cloth rubbed unpleasantly against my thighs. Oh, and the "unisex" pants didn't have adequate hips for me, if I recall correctly.

But yes, if/when I gird my loins to call a catalog company, they're definitely on the list.

[pameladean]

They've expanded their range of fabrics a bit, though I hope it won't turn out that comfy fabrics don't come with big pockets.

P.

[grendel1031.livejournal.com]

A similar thing occurred a year or so ago in men's pants. My wallet no longer fit comfortably in my back right pocket, which is where it belongs. Now, neither my butt nor my wallet has grown significantly between trouser purchases, so the fault lies with the designers.

I agree. NOT BIG ENOUGH!

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

If the problem pockets are wide enough but not deep enough, any competent tailor could extend them for you. A front pocket is just a little bag of lining sewn into the sturdy cloth of the pants. Don't extend the pocket too far or you won't be able to reach the bottom.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

This is not a new problem. Samuel R. Delany has written that back in the 60s, he borrowed his wife's jeans and noticed they had cute little toy pockets instead of functional ones.

[redbird]

Yes, I've read that.

But I thought it was a now-resolved problem.

Pockets

[nwl.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised; most of the skirts in the stores lack pockets entirely. I even looked in the sewing patterns and almost none of them had pockets. While it's not hard to add a pocket when making skirt, I'd rather not wing it not being an expert on making clothes. Quilts, after all, rarely have pockets.