It’s something of a joke these days, how excited women get when they find that their new skirt or dress has pockets. If you’re a woman, though, you know that it’s not exactly funny – we get so excited because not only do our dresses often not have pockets, half the time our pants don’t have useable ones, either.
And if you were thinking maybe it’s just a fashion thing and everyone’s pockets are really the same, well, turns out that’s not true.
You’re not imagining it, ladies. Women’s pockets really are subpar.
A Lifehacker investigation found that across 20 popular clothing brands, women’s pockets are not only shallower, but narrower, too – by at least half. 48% shorter and 6.5% narrower, to be exact.
Only 40% of front pockets on women’s jeans can fit a smartphone – the iPhoneX, Samsung Galaxy, and Google Pixel were all tested. Wallets that fit into the front pockets of men’s jeans don’t fit in women’s pants, either.
2% of women’s jeans pockets can’t even hold a pen. Only 10% of women can actually fit their whole hand in their pocket, and honestly, that probably has more to do with their dainty paws and not the pants.
These comparisons were made on jeans that are meant to fit the same size person, too, but at least one member of the fashion industry is looking to change things.
Julie Sygiel, founder of The Pockets Project, told The Week that she plans to create a line of dresses with pockets that are at least 8.5 inches deep.
No word on what that would do to the handbag industry if those actual pockets for women ever caught on, but maybe we’ll find out…
