With all the talk of SCOTTEVEST clothing and the like I wonder if pockets in travel clothing are not subject to an arms race — like the one between automakers for who could carve out the most minivan cupholders (I know, so 90’s). Here’s an interesting BBC H2G2 article on the history of the pocket. An excerpt:
Looking to the modern pocket, we must go back to the trousers again. We are now in the late 1700s. Let’s say it’s 1784 before some poor soul gets sick and tired of having to remember to tie his pocket on every day before he gets dressed. Most likely, you know a person like this. This is a person who has problems remembering to put his trousers on before his shoes, let alone remembering to tie his pocket on before his trousers.
Yet, absent minded as he is, he is no dunce. Therefore, in a fit of pique, he asks his wife to sew the pocket right to his trousers so he will never forget it again. And suddenly, there you have it. The pocket. The real, true, ultimate pocket. The friendly pocket you and I know and love that has been our most intimate friend since childhood… warming cold hands or holding fluff, bits of string and useless notes from friends long past and best forgotten.
I find one pocket to be absolutely indispensable: the inside breast pocket on a jacket, provided it’s deep enough to secure a wallet and ticket. And why shouldn’t there always be one on both sides instead of just on the left. This must be irritating to left-handed folk.