Pockets for women

[FlammableFlower]

MrsFF also had a pair of jeans that had what appeared to be fake pockets, but no.. they turned out to stupidly small pockets that had then been sewn shut...

To be fair, that's a thing on men's jackets too. Not an item I often buy, or indeed wear, but they tend to come with the pockets stitched shut to keep their shape and you have the option of unpicking if you want to use them.

Pockets on new items of clothing are tacked shut (technically it's tacking not sewing) and you are supposed to remove the tacking thread when you buy the item. They do this so that crap doesn't get in the pockets, and they don't get saggy when being transported, displayed or tried on. It's not supposed to be permanent.

Deffo and that was MrsFF's first thought on spotting there were pockets there... But there's usually (well, at least in my remembering there is) a difference between the stitching they use in each case. MrsFF's jeans' pockets looked like the "never coming apart" kind. And even if she had, the pockets probably weren't even an inch or so deep.

[FlammableFlower]

(Off topic) snooze - she's got her big bro who's now in his 3rd year and onto 45 miles to look out for her - and about this time on his first ten tors I remember him in bed in tears saying he'd never complete the training.
Also their scout lot really look out for each other - they haven't had someone drop out in over 20 years - they'd rather finish slowly than have someone not finish. In his first year two in his group developed really bad feet problems by the end of day one; so between checkpoints the remaining four shared the packs out of the two with bad feet (repacking when in sight of a checkpoint and telling the army everything was ok). As such they all made it in, not massively delayed. Quite proud of them for that. Also, last year their other 35 mile group went wrong right at the start and had to go all the way back to the beginning to get their bearings, which put them 4 hours behind. They still carried on and managed to complete the whole thing, doing an extra 10 miles in the bargain and not being crashed out.

I'll still keep a good eye on her to make sure she's ok.

[nefibach]

To be fair, that's a thing on men's jackets too. Not an item I often buy, or indeed wear, but they tend to come with the pockets stitched shut to keep their shape and you have the option of unpicking if you want to use them.

Pockets on new items of clothing are tacked shut (technically it's tacking not sewing) and you are supposed to remove the tacking thread when you buy the item. They do this so that crap doesn't get in the pockets, and they don't get saggy when being transported, displayed or tried on. It's not supposed to be permanent.

Deffo and that was MrsFF's first thought on spotting there were pockets there... But there's usually (well, at least in my remembering there is) a difference between the stitching they use in each case. MrsFF's jeans' pockets looked like the "never coming apart" kind. And even if she had, the pockets probably weren't even an inch or so deep.

That's what stitch-rippers are for.

Sometimes they do look robustly sewn, but so far I have never found a pocket I can't brute force my way into. If it's a faux pocket, it will be just a flap, it won't be sewn together because there'll be no hole there to sew together. They don't go to all that faff of sewing in a pocket only to permanently seal it up.

[FlammableFlower]

V. good point.

[jimbob]

(Off topic) snooze - she's got her big bro who's now in his 3rd year and onto 45 miles to look out for her - and about this time on his first ten tors I remember him in bed in tears saying he'd never complete the training.
Also their scout lot really look out for each other - they haven't had someone drop out in over 20 years - they'd rather finish slowly than have someone not finish. In his first year two in his group developed really bad feet problems by the end of day one; so between checkpoints the remaining four shared the packs out of the two with bad feet (repacking when in sight of a checkpoint and telling the army everything was ok). As such they all made it in, not massively delayed. Quite proud of them for that. Also, last year their other 35 mile group went wrong right at the start and had to go all the way back to the beginning to get their bearings, which put them 4 hours behind. They still carried on and managed to complete the whole thing, doing an extra 10 miles in the bargain and not being crashed out.

I'll still keep a good eye on her to make sure she's ok.

Hope she enjoys it.

Muriel Gray wrote an amusingly ranty book about mid 1990's hillwalking called "The First Fifty: Munro-bagging Without a Beard". If you can find a copy, I recommend it.

She might have mentioned some of the problems with women's clothes.

The reviews on goodreads are accurate: "at times funny and deadly serious"

[raven]

A Uniqlo open near us a while back and I've been pleasantly surprised by how much of their stuff has decent pockets. Even skirts and dresses, which often don't have them at all -- I presume on the assumption that us girls carry handbags all of the time & so don't need them.

Well, I prefer pockets. I buy clothes that have them over those that don't if there's a choice. I even contemplated sewing some into the pyjamas I bought last winter until it occured to me that going to sleep on top of pockets stuffed with tissues would be a bad idea.

[El Pollo Diablo]

My wife was showing me that her beloved old coat had only decorative flaps where the pockets should be, but then noticed that there were pockets, tacked shut.

I do hate it when you can't get access to your wife's pocket and can only see her flaps.

[Matatouille]

Well, I prefer pockets. I buy clothes that have them over those that don't if there's a choice. I even contemplated sewing some into the pyjamas I bought last winter until it occured to me that going to sleep on top of pockets stuffed with tissues would be a bad idea.

My wife just spent £50 more* on her new coat because it was the cheapest decent quality one with a usable quantity and distribution of pockets for her. Words were said, and the book of grudges added to.


*at heavily discounted Jan sales prices too.

[raven]

And there's the issue of mobile phones getting slimmer but longer, which means that my new phone doesn't fit in half my coat pockets. Grrr.

[bagpuss]

A Uniqlo open near us a while back and I've been pleasantly surprised by how much of their stuff has decent pockets. Even skirts and dresses, which often don't have them at all -- I presume on the assumption that us girls carry handbags all of the time & so don't need them.

Well, I prefer pockets. I buy clothes that have them over those that don't if there's a choice. I even contemplated sewing some into the pyjamas I bought last winter until it occured to me that going to sleep on top of pockets stuffed with tissues would be a bad idea.

I too far prefer pockets. For one thing, due to minor hip/leg issues that were being exacerbated by carrying a handbag on one shoulder, I have switched to using backpack-style handbags. This is great for my posture but not great for answering a ringing phone that is lurking therein. So I have to carry it in my pocket. Similarly, it's a right royal pain in the arse to rummage out keys from a backpack when approaching the front door - much handier to have them in pocket.

I am gradually acquiring a good collection of pocketed dresses and skirts, but they are few and far between in the shops.

[Tessa K]

It is generally assumed that a) women have handbags and b) pockets spoil the line of the clothes which are often made of lighter fabrics than men's clothes. It is infuriating when clothes have only tiny pockets. Even if I don't want to cram stuff in them, I do like to put my hands in the pockets of my skirts or trousers.

I prefer coats with inside pockets, which my leather jackets have but my winter coat doesn't. Again, not because I want to cram a lot in them (which would make you look like you have one boob much bigger than the other) but they are useful for keys or tissues. I still have an olden days phone which I like because it is small and can fit an inside pocket.

There's a good piece here on the history of women's pockets and a longer piece from the V&A here .

[nefibach]

It is generally assumed that a) women have handbags and b) pockets spoil the line of the clothes which are often made of lighter fabrics than men's clothes. It is infuriating when clothes have only tiny pockets. Even if I don't want to cram stuff in them, I do like to put my hands in the pockets of my skirts or trousers.

I prefer coats with inside pockets, which my leather jackets have but my winter coat doesn't. Again, not because I want to cram a lot in them (which would make you look like you have one boob much bigger than the other) but they are useful for keys or tissues. I still have an olden days phone which I like because it is small and can fit an inside pocket.

There's a good piece here on the history of women's pockets and a longer piece from the V&A here .

Let's call a spade a spade. Cheaper fabrics. Women's clothes aren't supposed to last, because we're all supposed to change our wardrobe yearly so that we can be fashionable. So manufacturers use cheap, sh.tty fabric whenever they can get away from it.

I once had a trouser emergency, and the only pair of non-black non-jeggings I could find on Oxford St was (at the suggestion of my husband) a pair of men's trousers from Banana Republic. They actually fit pretty well, and they look fab. The fabric is really nice, the pockets large and well-made, and they are really comfortable. They possibly have a bit more fabric in the crotch than I really need, but I don't think it's noticeable. And all this is because men's trousers are supposed to last. Women's are not.

Add to that the problem that something like 85% of clothing sent for recycling goes to landfill, taking up 5% of landfill space.

It's a shitshow, it really is.

[Martin Y]

… Add to that the problem that something like 85% of clothing sent for recycling goes to landfill, taking up 5% of landfill space.

That's a genuinely shocking statistic, but did you really mean "sent for recycling" rather than disposed of by whatever means?

The link contains a lot of big numbers and some are really awful while others are curiously mundane. It's staggering to read that the average [American?] consumer bins (not recycles) 70 lb of clothes and shoes per year, but it's not really a shock to read that 75% of the world's fashion market is in Europe plus the US plus China plus Japan. If that's not where 75% of the world's money is I would be surprised.

I'm not sure if the stat about UK consumers having many billions in unworn clothes is a big number or not. "Unworn" evokes first world guilt at such luxury, but it works out at the average person having about £550 in clothes excluding whatever you're wearing right now. Hmm. I do not consider myself remotely fashionable and keep clothes for years. But I have a suit and a dinner suit in the wardrobe (which I rarely have cause to wear). Hell, I even have a kilt in there. Is that bad? If I add up every other garment I possess (purchase price, I assume) I can smash through £550 with ease.

[Gfamily]

… Add to that the problem that something like 85% of clothing sent for recycling goes to landfill, taking up 5% of landfill space.

That's a genuinely shocking statistic, but did you really mean "sent for recycling" rather than disposed of by whatever means?

The link says "sent for recycling", but its reference for the claim appears to give the 85% figure as being for 'all clothing disposals'.

[Martin Y]

… Add to that the problem that something like 85% of clothing sent for recycling goes to landfill, taking up 5% of landfill space.

That's a genuinely shocking statistic, but did you really mean "sent for recycling" rather than disposed of by whatever means?

The link says "sent for recycling", but its reference for the claim appears to give the 85% figure as being for 'all clothing disposals'.

That makes more sense. It's bad that most people just throw most of their old clothes in the bin but if 85% of what people believed they were sending for recycling was going into landfill that would be a different level of staggering.

[Hunting Dog]

I'm not sure if the stat about UK consumers having many billions in unworn clothes is a big number or not. "Unworn" evokes first world guilt at such luxury, but it works out at the average person having about £550 in clothes excluding whatever you're wearing right now. Hmm. I do not consider myself remotely fashionable and keep clothes for years. But I have a suit and a dinner suit in the wardrobe (which I rarely have cause to wear). Hell, I even have a kilt in there. Is that bad? If I add up every other garment I possess (purchase price, I assume) I can smash through £550 with ease.

I read 'unworn' as meaning never worn, in which case £550 is quite a lot. But I've probably got about £100 worth of never worn things, and I don't do a lot of clothes shopping, so meh...

[dr_S]

Trousers with useful pockets are really ace, but so hard to find. My current wardrobe contains exactly one pair of trousers with useful pockets, ie my phone fits comfortably in there even when I'm sitting down. Thanks for the tip upthread about Uniqlo, I shall pay them a visit whenever I'm next in a city where they have a shop.

[nefibach]

That's a genuinely shocking statistic, but did you really mean "sent for recycling" rather than disposed of by whatever means?

The link says "sent for recycling", but its reference for the claim appears to give the 85% figure as being for 'all clothing disposals'.

That makes more sense. It's bad that most people just throw most of their old clothes in the bin but if 85% of what people believed they were sending for recycling was going into landfill that would be a different level of staggering.

I hadn't go to the source, I admit, because busy. But I have heard elsewhere that the vast proportion of clothes actually sent for recycling end up in landfill.

Ah, here we are: Only 10-15% of clothes that are donated actually end up being resold. Hardly any (less than 1%) are recycled into fibres. The rest goes to landfill.

https://remake.world/stories/news/are-o ... -landfill/

[Woodchopper]

I'm not sure if the stat about UK consumers having many billions in unworn clothes is a big number or not. "Unworn" evokes first world guilt at such luxury, but it works out at the average person having about £550 in clothes excluding whatever you're wearing right now. Hmm. I do not consider myself remotely fashionable and keep clothes for years. But I have a suit and a dinner suit in the wardrobe (which I rarely have cause to wear). Hell, I even have a kilt in there. Is that bad? If I add up every other garment I possess (purchase price, I assume) I can smash through £550 with ease.

I read 'unworn' as meaning never worn, in which case £550 is quite a lot. But I've probably got about £100 worth of never worn things, and I don't do a lot of clothes shopping, so meh...

I think I found the source. It refers to clothes that haven’t been worn for a year or more https://www.treehugger.com/sustainable- ... finds.html

[Squeak]

As a woman of taller than standard size I now buy almost all of my clothes online from one of two shops, my favourite of which (eshakti, for those of you who like pockets and clothes that fit) makes clothes to order, almost all of which come with pockets. When you enter your measurements, it has the option to remove the pockets and I always wonder how many women would actively choose to buy pocketless dresses and trousers. I'd love to see their stats.

Likewise, I often wonder about the gender disparity in Bluetooth earphone styles. I can't see why I'd ever want the properly wireless ones until my entire wardrobe consists of eshakti clothes. Where do you put them when you take one or both earpieces out to chat to people? The ones connected by wire can hang around my neck and not get lost until I'm ready to listen again. I suspect that many women are the same.

For women's outdoor gear, there's some weird assumption that outdoorsy women are short and definitely never plus-sized. I can't imagine that I'm the only woman who's more than a size 14 who likes being active? They've long been far worse on this front than ordinary clothes brands.

[raven]

For one thing, due to minor hip/leg issues that were being exacerbated by carrying a handbag on one shoulder, I have switched to using backpack-style handbags.

Me too, but for back/shoulder issues. It is impossible to hear a phone in them.

The first time we lived overseas, in a rented flat in the US, I was stunned to find the landlady had left 'a few clothes she didn't need' in the loft that added up to about twice my entire wardrobe. She didn't come back for them during the 18 months we were there.

[Tessa K]

I have a pair of leggings and a sports bra that I've never worn because I stockpiled them once I found some I liked. I will get round to them this year when the current ones wear out. I also have a couple of party things that don't get an outing very often but they came from charity shops so although they look expensive they weren't to me.

Some women's clothes are cheap quality as they're considered short term fashion but I've bought T shirts and tops from the cheapest shops that have lastest ages.

The skirt I'm wearing today is from GAP (via a charity shop) and has rubbish pockets but I have one from Levi that has good deep ones so there's no consistency. If you want pockets, get a cardie or a hoodie. Putting too much in pockets is a good way to damage them anyway.

[bagpuss]

For women's outdoor gear, there's some weird assumption that outdoorsy women are short and definitely never plus-sized. I can't imagine that I'm the only woman who's more than a size 14 who likes being active? They've long been far worse on this front than ordinary clothes brands.

Ugh, tell me about it. It is now a lot easier to get 16+ size running/exercise kit than it used to be but I get the impression the same change hasn't happened so much with general outdoorsy clothing

If you want pockets, get a cardie or a hoodie. Putting too much in pockets is a good way to damage them anyway.

Problem with that is that I'm generally very warm and can't wear a cardie or hoodie indoors most of the time without melting. The only time I wear such things is on the rare occasion I'm somewhere indoors and cold or under a coat where the pockets of any cardie/hoodie are inaccessible anyway. So I need pockets in my trousers/skirts/dresses.

[nefibach]

If you want pockets, get a cardie or a hoodie. Putting too much in pockets is a good way to damage them anyway.

I want good pockets in my coats, jackets and trousers, mostly. And it shouldn't be a contentious ask, frankly.

[nefibach]

As a woman of taller than standard size I now buy almost all of my clothes online from one of two shops, my favourite of which (eshakti, for those of you who like pockets and clothes that fit) makes clothes to order, almost all of which come with pockets.

Apologies for the derail, but I've been tempted by eshakti, but I have seen so many bad reviews. How have you found them?