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Women are supposed to be objects to admire, and aren’t allowed to have functional clothing as a result. Didn’t you know that?
Also, purse sales would suffer.
Women’s pants should have cargo pockets big enough to fit any grandmother’s purse. If some of my pants pockets can go up to my elbows (not even exaggerating, it’s an embarrassing pain to fish my keys out of those pockets), then women should be able to lose their wristwatch in a cavernous pocket.
Anecdote: Sometimes my wife carries a pair of ankle-high socks in her purse, in case we’re gonna have to take our shoes off or whatever. This sometimes requires reorganizing her bag. When she’s told me to take an extra pair of socks, of which I only have knee-high compression socks, I just match a pair, fold them, and stick them in one of my four available pockets on any of my pants. I do not have a single set of pants incapable of holding a week’s worth of knee-high compression socks.
Oh, I absolutely agree with you. I was being super sarcastic with my above comment. Foolish cultural preconceptions hinder us all. Edit to add that cargo pants with side pockets are the bomb.
You know what? That’s my fault. What started off as a humorous offhanded comment accidentally turned into a rant. Sorry to make you feel like I was talking at you when I was actually yelling at clouds.
No worries, I understand the source of the rant, my sarcasm came from the same vein. Besides, we need to keep those clouds in check!
Could it be because women keep buying them? I’ve never seen my mother wear pants without pockets, and when she bought a new jacket, the amount and placement of pockets was the first thing on her mind.
Only now I realize the significance of that. But still. How hard is it to not buy pocketless apparel?
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You are a voice of reason in these comments!
I get so tired of being told to go buy pants with pockets or buy men’s jeans, when that has nothing to do with the point. Women deserve pockets in our jeans. Period.
One day, I’m going to go to a few stores with women’s jeans and count the ratio of how many have actual pockets. I already know it will be low. Buying jeans online comes with a whole other set of problems like fit, color, and style not being what’s show in pictures.
Below are 2 pairs jeans I own, similar style and pricing, basic denim jeans. The one on the left, fits most of my hand. The one on the right, barely fits my lighter without worrying I’ll lose it. There is no reason the pathetic pockets on the right should even exist.
If you don’t like tiny pockets, then why did you buy pants with tiny pockets? I seriously don’t understand the logic.
Men’s underpants come with flies and without flies. Those without are usually cheaper. If I want a fly, I buy those with a fly. I don’t buy underpants without a fly and then complain that I didn’t get a fly.
I believe you that pants with big pockets are hard to find and that it’s effort to buy them. But that still doesn’t add any sense to buying pants with tiny pockets.
Because I bought them 20 years ago at a deep employee discount at a time when I needed pants and those were the pants available to me. Retail price of both were about the same, except the bigger pockets were purchased within the last 2 years. It’s not that they are hard to find, they can be impossible to find.
If you had no options other than pants without a fly or digging through multiple stores to find the one style of pants that might have a fly but are the ugliest vomit color green and do not fit comfortably, you would complain too.
You’ve made the point clear to me. Thank you.
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Yep! I keep that picture around for when folks say women’s clothes can’t have pockets because it messes with “the lines” or that pockets don’t fit the style. That argument is perfectly fine for cute tighter dresses, but it’s dumb for things like jeans and regular skirts.
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I get so tired of being told to go buy pants with pockets or buy men’s jeans, when that has nothing to do with the point. Women deserve pockets in our jeans. Period.
What you’re saying is not just that you deserve pockets in your jeans, but that you deserve them in the style that you want, as easily found as other pairs. Which doesn’t sound true to me. Who “deserves” a particular style?
The reason trousers are sold with small pockets is because big pockets look different, especially when full of stuff, especially on tighter-fitting clothing. Do you want to make it harder for people who want those trousers to find suitable ones? Why do your preferences for practicality outweigh theirs for aesthetics?
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You can desire whatever you want, and I can desire whatever I want. The only difference (assuming you are agreeing with the person I replied to) is that I don’t go around telling people I deserve what I desire when it is hard to get. There are innumerable ways the world does not cater to my desires - some overlap with the ways it does not cater to yours, some do not.
If your basic human rights are not being met, I’ll come out for you, just as, I’m sure, you’d come out for me. But this is about fashion.
Like, you know it’s pretty easy to get longer skirts and dresses with pockets, right? If it were about pockets, you’d just wear the clothes with pockets.
So if I want pockets, my only choices are dresses or skirts. Because women are not allowed to have choices. Because women are not allowed to have functional pockets in jeans. Because women are not allowed to have functional pockets in non form fitting clothing.
Got it. Thank you, a man, for telling me, a woman, that I do not have other options and that I should just deal with it.
I suggest you go read a book, try this one.
You have the choice to:
- Buy a skirt
- Buy a dress
- Buy sweatpants
- Buy jeans from one of the retailers listed in this thread
- Buy jeans with unusable pockets and alter them
- Buy “men’s” clothes
- Carry a bag with you
You have choices. You are unhappy with the choices available, but are instead saying you have none.
If you complained “I am unhappy with these choices” instead of complaining, “I am not allowed to have choices” you would not get people replying about the other choices you do, in fact, have.
You, a man
No thank you.
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There’s a world of difference between a complaint that acknowledges the privilege of even being in a position to complain about fashion and one which mistakenly or dishonestly mischaracterises what is wrong as something more severe.
Imagine if I complained I was thirsty all the time because the local shop stopped stocking coke, and that I deserved to have something to drink. Wouldn’t you roll your eyes and tell me to drink water? Wouldn’t you react differently if I said I was bummed because the shop ran out of coke and I just wanted some? Being honest/aware of what the actual issue is makes all the difference.
lol man, I’m not talking about nice trousers, or dressy pants, or skin tight anything. I don’t want big pockets in my form fitting clothes. I don’t wear skin tight clothes all of the time. That picture are 2 pairs of non-tight bootcut jeans.
I’m talking about basic, everyday, denim jeans that have that tiny useless pocket. Even wide leg jeans have that tiny useless pocket. The pockets in these jeans can’t even fit my driver’s license or credit card in them without worrying they will fall out. I don’t want to fit everything that’s in my purse in those pockets. I want to fit my ID, credit card, a bit of cash, and my pocket knife. I want to be able to grab those few things and run into the grocery store or bookstore without always lugging my purse around. That’s it.
I’m a flare and bootcut jeans kind of gal. I want functional pockets in every day normal denim jeans. I want functional pockets in clothes that make sense.
Bootcut men’s jeans:
Bootcut women’s jeans:
I mean sure, you may mean you prefer looser jeans even than those pictured, but do you see how much tighter the woman’s are than the man’s? That’s the current fashion. Even if you actually wear looser ones, the fact that the fashion is for tighter jeans means you might not be wearing the size the designer envisaged, and in any case, the designer imagines that the majority of people buying those jeans also own tight clothing, hence a purse, hence there’s no point putting in a functional pocket.
Yes, it’s annoying when fashion doesn’t cater to you, but it’s still important to recognise that as what’s going on.
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I’m so glad you used pictures of models that have been air brushed for fashion magazines to prove that women are wrong to complain about pockets.
Here’s a real pair of jeans on a real human being. Jeans that I recently purchased at a popular fashion store.
See those pockets? These aren’t even the ones I posted above, these pockets are twice as deep as those and I still barely fit all of my fingers. I cannot safely place my credit card and ID in those pockets without a big risk of losing them. That is why women are pissed about pockets.
You are right that they are loose-fitting enough on to have functional pockets, but I think there’s some more of my comment that still applies. How many women do you think are buying jeans that fit that loosely? A quick dredge through some photos (whether models or selfies) makes me pretty confident it’s a minority.
Your perspective seems to be that there is no reason not to make the pockets bigger, but there is, it’s just a reason that affects people other than you.
because bulky pockets ruin the look of a garment.Because women’s clothes with usable pockets don’t force women to buy an expensive purse ontop.
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How hard is it to buy pocketless apparel?
It’s actually a lot harder than you think because most women’s clothing do not have proper pockets.
It’s literally a conspiracy to sell more purses.
Because women still mostly buy jeans without pockets. There isn’t a strong enough financial incentive for manufacturers to add pockets to womens jeans.
If you want to change it then start buying jeans with pockets, easily available online.
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https://radianjeans.com/ By the pictures seems to be fitting a whole phone.
https://www.amazon.com/womens-jeans-deep-front-pockets/s?k=womens+jeans+with+deep+front+pockets
Of course it’s questionable how deep each one is.
https://www.gap.com/shop/jeans-for-women-with-front-pockets-0agz00a
At least some seem to fit a whole hand.
https://www.reviewed.com/style/features/womens-jeans-deep-functional-pockets
Whole review pointing towards multiple brands with deep pockets.
Or yeah in extreme case to make a point to manufactures. Starting to buy mens jeans en mass for a while, but as people aren’t a hive mind. That’s kinda harder to achieve.
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As someone who wore men’s jeans and now wears women’s… even women’s jeans with pockets have ridiculously small pockets compared to men’s. It’s really not just a matter of choice, because a majority of the choices just don’t exist.
My Ex had a pair of slacks that had “fake pockets” on it. She would complain literally every time she wore them. One day, it dawned on me that nicer pants and coats for men, sometimes had pockets sewed shut loosely to keep them looking nice in the store (i think that’s the reason anyways). So, I asked her if it was sewn shut, and it was. She was mad at me for not telling her sooner.
Unless it has a lining, you should be able to determine whether the pockets are real or fake by checking the inner side.
She, unfortunately, wasn’t that bright.
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I just intentionally leave the outer pockets of my suit jackets seen shut. I just use the inner pockets if necessary.
The one place I want to have pockets is at the bar. I’m fine with carrying everything in a little sack, but the second I’ve been drinking I can’t keep track of things that aren’t attached to me.
Get a nice Jean vest. I’m a dude, but I basically treat mine like it’s my purse.
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Maybe it’s time to design a Jean vest for the busty gal. All the under space would allow for bigger inside pockets!
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Well that’s lame. It shouldn’t cost a mint to look mint.
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Yea that’s true. My pockets get pretty bloated at work. Maybe saddle bags for humans is the solution?
Buy the clothes with pockets then FFS. Stop whining about being oppressed over pockets.
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So buy the women’s clothes with pockets. Or get them tailor made or learn to sew them yourself. Or wear the less flattering options that have pockets. The world doesn’t owe you the specific clothes you want and there is no grand conspiracy to keep women from having the size of pockets a few would prefer. Seriously, do you consider everything that doesn’t cater to you a conspiracy against women? I’m so sick of hearing the whining outrage over very trivial shit as if it has any importance at all.
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Women complaining about trivial shit as if it’s some systemic gender oppression, undermining the importance of the entire notion of gender oppression.
Women, amirite?
/s
Men’s pants are sold by leg length and waist size, you can get a pair that are long enough for you and large enough for your hips.
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My ex, a woman, complete with a woman’s hips, pretty much exclusively wore men’s trousers. Sometimes with a belt.
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And men too!
But seriously, if I take what you’re saying at face value that this is a practical problem, large trousers and a belt will give you trousers that cover your legs and don’t fall down.
What I suspect you want is trousers that not only fulfill your functional requirements but which you also think look good. And that is not even an unreasonable desire, but it is clearly a different desire, and one which I don’t think is problem that needs urgently addressing on a societal level. The fact that there is a tradeoff between
- readily available
- suits you
- practical
is at the level of annoying.
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That’s the space for the pockets to carry things.
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You don’t understand how waists and hips work for women.
In full seriousness, one of my green lights for a relationship is someone who values functional pockets in clothing and other practicalities.
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I’m sure you can find exceptions, but most purses, especially the more expensive ones, are just big voids with a shoulder strap (if even that). They’re designed to be fashion accessories.
You can replicate the entire function of most purses with a plastic grocery bag.
Practicality is something like a backpack or shoulder pack. Many pocket and compartments, designed for weather resistance, rugged and durable. And honestly, more fashionable than a lot of people realize. So many colors and designs to choose from.
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Ah, then I wasn’t clear enough.
I meant that something like that would get mentioned without prompting in normal conversation. That such things are constantly on their mind.
“You look really nice.”
“Thanks, it’s hard to find good jeans in my size with actual pockets.
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Sadly, that’s one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me.
If that were true, why aren’t men also victims?
Purses are seen too much as gay, its too uphill of a battle. Although the fashion industry has made progress on this front in the form of across the chest bags.
Remember when purses for men were called ‘briefcases’?
Men’s pockets are for putting expensive wallets and keychains in
So? If Big Pant and Big Purse are really in cahoots, Big Pant would make men’s pockets useless as well so that men’s purses would be for putting expensive wallets and keychains in. Why would you leave half the population out of your scam, and the better paid half of the population at that?
Hmm, making a good point there 🤔 big purse need to break gender norms or expand into big shoulder/waist pouch so big trousers can make pocket size equitable
I bought a skirt recently, it had two cute little front pockets. I was excited only to discover they were fake.
Today when I emptied my pockets I had 3 zip lock sandwich bags, a roll of soft Velcro, a roll of scratchy Velcro, multiple hair bands, compression gloves, and miscellaneous paper trash I forgot to toss. They weren’t event half full. My kids have started copying me and walking around with their hands in their pockets which I do just because of the joy of having them. I wish all my pants were like my scrubs. Sigh.
Protip - check out trousers made for rock climbing. Good pockets, full range of motion, tough material that lasts, pretty colours :-)
I wear an elaborate holster sort of purse on my left hip that wraps around my thigh and waist. Helps out a lot.
I generally dress in fancy and insane outfits though.
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I cropped out the rest of the image, to focus on this.
My whole aesthetic is to look like I fell out of a Final Fantasy sometimes.
Normal women: “I want bigger pockets.”
You: “I need nineteen belts.”
I mean, I got three distinct styles.
- Final Fantasy: lots of straps, unusual clothing cuts, grandiose and sweeping fashion ideas that look modern and are easy to travel with
- Detroit Become Human: clean, simple clothes from about twenty years from now, futuristic and timeless all at once
- Life is Strange: trying to blend in with normal people fashion, but doing it too hard, being too memorable?
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It’s a good vibe!
Went to a clothes shop in Tenerife.
Unable to speak the lingo, the missus picked up a pair of jeans off a shelf.
“Are these for men or women, I can’t tell?”
I put my hand in the pocket. It stopped about 2cm in.
“These are women’s jeans”
Meanwhile, I can fit a full size Nintendo Switch in my cargo shorts pocket.
I used to sometimes put enture 1,5L bottles into my pockets when I went to the store for a snack and I had no backpack. A candy bar or some crisps in one pocket. A huge bottle in the other. Sure a bit of the bottle was sticking out but like 85% fit inside the pocket
I haven’t gone clothes shopping in about 15 years, and my pants pockets are fucking gone. Since yhen I’ve also started wearing skirts which don’t have pockets at all.
My solution? Belt of Pickets. molle pouches are excellent and can stack on each other. So when my boyfriend wants to go hiking, I can carry both our phones, a water bottle, can of stimulants, rum flask, umbrella, and more just in my pockets. It’s great.
Have you ever seen the music video for Madonna’s Beautiful Stranger? It’s a tie in with…one of the Austin Powers flicks, I forget which. In it, Mike Meyers goes to a club where Madonna is performing on stage, she’s wearing this sexy form fitting black lace top and this hilariously bad pair of grey slacks that look like Dickie’s work pants, apparently complete with functioning hip pockets that bulge out from her hips like Dumbo ears.
That’s why most commercial women’s pants don’t come with large pockets. To use large internal pockets, the garment has to fit loosely, to reach to the bottom to fish something out you have to be able to fit the width of your fist through the opening, and it’s damn near impossible to make an opening that will open large enough to admit her entire hand with room to spare that will lay flat and flattering on a woman’s hip, not while we’re in our fifth decade of tight pants on women.
If they put tight pants with functional hip pockets on the racks, you’d try them on, look in the mirror, say “oh god no” and leave the store without buying anything.
Women’s sweat pants? They often have similar pockets to men’s sweat pants. Sundresses have a stereotypical response to compliments: Thanks IT HAS POCKETS! It’s not going to happen in jeans or slacks though, because out of “emulate men’s fashion”, “practicality” and “be feminine and pretty” you get to pick any two.
Emulate men’s fashion + practicality = Buy cargo jeans from the men’s department; you’ll get used to the room in the crotch and you’ll never use that little leather thing you’re supposed to clip a tape measure to but you can fit an entire book in each hip pocket.
Emulate men’s fashion + be feminine and pretty = Apple bottom jeans and boots with the fur. The design of women’s work jeans originally had the zipper or buttons at the hip rather than the front, the typical pattern seen today is strong enough for a man, ruined to look good on a woman.
be feminine and pretty + practicality = that sundress WITH POCKETS! or some other such clothing designed specifically for women in mind, which hasn’t been a politically popular idea in living memory at least not in the West.
Tbf, as a woman who both wants pockets and also really does not care for constricting clothing, I would fucking love JNCO type shit to make a comeback (I realize the literal brand still exists but I ain’t paying $150+ for a single pair of jeans).
You could get close to that look by buying a pair of men’s Wrangler relaxed fit cargo jeans 1 waist size larger than you need and then take the waist in 2 inches. For some reason they’ve been making the same style of cargo pant since at least the 2000s, they make that same pattern from ripstop or khaki twill but the fit isn’t as loose as the denim variant. Might not be quite as severe as vintage JNCOs but you’ll have the desired effect.
Just looking in the women’s side of Wrangler’s website, they’re apparently leaning into the “cowboy” aesthetic, including a “cowboy barrel jean” which seems to have two characteristics: 1. formlessly baggy fit below the belt loops though with no utility features whatsoever, and 2. fell seams down the front and back. So in addition to the in and out seams, there’s front and back seams too, which must be tremendously comfy to sit down in.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsh0TfIKhoE
That’s the video and I don’t even see the pockets. Though maybe I’m a weirdo because I find women in functional or baggy clothing sexy, so I was actually hoping it was more obvious like you said (though she’s still hot).
I’m not sure exactly what it is, maybe appreciating the attitude of wanting to dress for comfort and functionality rather than to impress others. I do find the attitude/insecurity behind wanting to get vanity surgeries very unattractive (especially becauase so many of those surgeries put them in the uncanny valley rather than make them look better), so that could be it.
So I say be yourself when picking clothes. If you want pockets, get pockets and then as a bonus you might attract someone who thinks it’s hot that you picked pants that you like instead of what some parts of society tell you you should wear. Though I might be biased lol.
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How does a preference of one over the other imply that there are no other options?
And just saying that not everyone prefers whatever standards the fashion industry sets. If you want pockets and also want to look hot, some people are into that. I don’t think you have any obligation to look hot if you dgaf about that or even care what I think about it.
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Ok, well I just meant between those two. And see you edited your original sarcastic reply; the vanity surgeries you addressed in your edit was meant as the extreme opposite of my personal preferences.
All I was trying to say is that not everyone prefers or agrees with the mainstream beauty standards.
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I responded to a top-level comment saying Madonna looked bad in those pants because I disagreed with that bit and then rambled a bit about it.
