Pockets Are Power

Sometimes the pockets on women’s clothing really suck.

But the truth is, we have it a lot better than our sisters before us. NONE of their dresses had pockets, and what pockets they had were hard-to-access pouches tied on underneath their skirts. They moved to carrying purses because that was actually EASIER. (Yikes.)

We can thank the suffragettes – carrying their signs and pamphlets – for changing things. They didn’t have spare hands to carry purses, so they sewed big pockets into their suits. They didn’t have time for extra baggage – they needed to carry history forward.

“Our design team is all women, so we are keenly aware of the burden associated with carrying a purse day in and day out,” said Anna Medina, one of our in-house designers, when we chatted with her and design director Carey Mullett about suffragettes and their pockets. “Like them, the goal for us is to build pockets so you can ditch the purse and live more freely. Before we’ve even sketched a garment, we’ve thought about pockets and their end use.”

“We are always trying to stuff our phones in!” laughed Carey.
It’s funny ‘cause it’s true. We ask ourselves, ”What is the pocket for? To hold a phone? To keep your hands warm? Is it for a sports bra? A dress?”

“These questions help guide how we design the pocket, the materials we use, and where we place them on the body,” Anna explained. “For example, when riding a bike, do your valuables fall out when you bend over the handlebars? Is pedaling a drag?”

Not if we have anything to do with it.

Since the suffragettes helped to build a world where woman-owned and operated Title Nine can actually exist, it’s only fitting that their work on pockets informs everything that Title Nine makes.

When the need to spread sedition calls, we’ve got a pocket for that.