Editing Pocket

{{Short description|Small compartment in clothing}}
{{About||the digital application and service|Pocket (service)|other uses}}
[[File:Jeans pocket back.jpg|right|thumb|Patch pocket with [[topstitch]]ing and [[bar tack]]ing on the back of a pair of blue jeans.]]
A '''pocket''' is a [[bag]]- or [[envelope]]-like receptacle either fastened to or inserted in an article of [[clothing]] to hold small items. Pockets are also  attached to [[luggage]], [[backpack]]s, and similar items. In older usage, a pocket was a separate small bag or pouch.

==Origins==
[[File:Tacuinum Sanitatis-threshing.jpg|thumb|left|255 px|Pockets hang from belts as 15th-century peasants thresh [[Wheat|siligo wheat]] in a ''[[Tacuinum Sanitatis]]'']]
[[File:Woman's Pockets LACMA M.59.21.1a-b.jpg|thumb|upright|18th-century woman's hanging pocket]]
Ancient people used leather or cloth pouches to hold valuables.<ref name="random-history">{{cite web |url= http://www.randomhistory.com/2008/10/01_handbag.html |title= A History of Handbags |website= Random History |access-date= April 23, 2016 }}</ref> [[Ötzi]] (also called the "Iceman"), who lived around 3,300 [[BCE]], had a belt with a pouch sewn to it that contained a cache of useful items: a scraper, drill, flint flake, bone awl, and a dried [[tinder fungus]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iceman.it/en/node/275 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311083938/http://www.iceman.it/en/node/275 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 11, 2009 |title=The Belt and Pouch |publisher=South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology |access-date=April 23, 2016 }}</ref>

In European clothing, fitchets, resembling modern day pockets, appeared in the 13th century. Vertical slits were cut in the super tunic, which did not have any side openings, to allow access to purse or keys slung from the girdle of the tunic.<ref>{{Cite book | last=Cunnington | first=C. Willett | author-link=Cecil Willett Cunnington | last2=Cunnington | first2=Phillis | author-link2=Phillis Emily Cunnington | year=1969 | title=Handbook of English Medieval Costume | publisher=Plays Inc}}</ref> According to historian Rebecca Unsworth, it was in the late 15th century that pockets became more noticeable.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Unsworth|first=Rebecca|date=2017-09-01|title=Hands Deep in History: Pockets in Men and Women's Dress in Western Europe, c. 1480–1630|url=http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/cost.2017.0022|journal=Costume|volume=51|issue=2|pages=148–170|doi=10.3366/cost.2017.0022|issn=0590-8876|doi-access=free}}</ref> During the 16th century, pockets increased in popularity and prevalence.<ref name=":0" />

In slightly later European clothing, pockets began by being hung like [[Coin purse|purses]] from a belt, which could be concealed beneath a [[Coat (clothing)|coat]] or [[jerkin (garment)|jerkin]] to discourage [[pickpocketing]] and reached through a slit in the outer garment.

In the 17th century, pockets began to be sewn into men's clothing, but not women's, which continued to be tied on and hidden under the large skirts popular at the time.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Sexist, Political History of Pockets|url=https://www.racked.com/2016/9/19/12865560/politics-of-pockets-suffragettes-women|access-date=15 March 2018|work=Racked|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180313162205/https://www.racked.com/2016/9/19/12865560/politics-of-pockets-suffragettes-women|archive-date=13 March 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Victoria and Albert Museum|first=Online Museum|date=2012-09-17|title=Wearing Pockets|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/history-of-pockets/|access-date=2021-01-25|website=www.vam.ac.uk}}</ref>  
 
The word appears in [[Middle English]] as ''pocket'', and is taken from a [[Norman language|Norman]] diminutive of [[Old French]] ''poke'', ''pouque'', modern ''poche'', cf. [[Bag|pouch]]. The form "poke" is now only used in dialect, or in such proverbial sayings as "a pig in a poke".

Historically, the term "pocket" referred to a pouch worn around the waist by women in the 17th to 19th centuries, mentioned in the rhyme ''[[Lucy Locket]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spnea.org/NEHM/NEWWSpringPage04.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010629132558/http://spnea.org/NEHM/NEWWSpringPage04.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2001-06-29 |title=Historic New England: Defining the Past. Shaping the Future |publisher=Spnea.org |access-date=2009-08-20 }}</ref> In these pockets, women would carry items needed in their daily lives, such as scissors, pins and needles, and keys.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Weissman, Judith Reiter.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/29315818|title=Labors of love : America's textiles and needlework, 1650-1930|date=1994|publisher=Wings Books|others=Lavitt, Wendy.|isbn=0-517-10136-X|location=New York|oclc=29315818}}</ref>{{Rp|113}}

In more modern clothing, while men's clothes generally have pockets, [[Trousers as women's clothing|those designed to be worn by women]] often do not - and sometimes have what are called Potemkin pockets (from [[Potemkin village]]), a fake slit sewn shut.  If there are pockets they are often much smaller than in men's clothes.  Journalists at [[the Pudding]] found less than half of women’s front pockets could fit a thin wallet, let alone a phone and keys.<ref>{{cite news |title=Women are big losers in the politics of pockets |url=https://www.ft.com/content/58904cf6-198b-4a70-abee-c2c821a4b318 |access-date=10 November 2022 |publisher=Financial Times |date=6 November 2022}}</ref>

==Types==
A watch pocket or fob pocket is a small pocket designed to hold a [[pocket watch]], sometimes found in men's [[trousers]] and [[waistcoat]]s and in traditional [[Jeans|blue jeans]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Those Oft-Forgotten Pant Parts|url=http://www.levistrauss.com/unzipped-blog/2014/04/those-oft-forgotten-pant-parts/|author=Levi Strauss & Co. Unzipped Team|date=17 April 2014|access-date=2015-11-03}}</ref> However, due to the decline in popularity of pocket watches, these pockets are rarely used for their original intended purpose.

A besom pocket or slit pocket is a pocket cut into a garment instead of being sewn on. These pockets often have reinforced [[Piping (sewing)|piping]] along the slit of the pocket, appearing perhaps as an extra piece of fabric or stitching. Besom pockets are found on a [[Tuxedo|tuxedo jacket]] or [[trousers]] and may be accented with a flap or button closure.

Camp pockets or cargo pockets are pockets which have been sewn to the outside of the garment. They are usually squared off and are characterized by seaming.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.textileglossary.com/terms/camp-pockets.html | title=What is "Camp Pockets" - Definition & Explanation | access-date=December 1, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.dressking.com/search/glossary.htm | title=Glossary of fashion design terminology at Dress King | access-date=December 1, 2011}}</ref>

A beer pocket is a small pocket within a jacket or vest sized specifically for transporting a bottle of [[beer]]. It came into fashion in the 1910s in select areas of the [[American midwest]], prior to [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]], after which it faded into relative obscurity before experiencing minor revivals in the 1980s and early 2000s.

===Examples of pocket designs===
In some of the following illustrations, a folded blue handkerchief is included for illustration purposes:
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
File:Patch pocket.png|Patch pocket with [[pocket square]]
File:Patch pocket topstitching.png|Patch pocket with topstitching
File:J patch pocket.png|J patch pocket
File:Flap pocket.png|Flap pocket
File:Buttoned flap box pleat pocket.png|Buttoned-flap patch pocket with box [[pleat]]
File:Side seam pocket.png|Sideseam pocket
File:Smile pocket with piping.png|"Smile" slit pocket with [[piping (sewing)|piping]] and arrowhead reinforcements, typical of [[Western wear]]
File:Bound pocket.png|Double-jetted pocket
File:Stand pocket.png|Stand or single-welt pocket
</gallery>
<gallery mode="packed" heights="120px">
File:Hosentaschen vorne 02.svg|Slant-front or slash pockets<ref>https://www.heddels.com/2019/06/types-pockets-pocket-dictionary/</ref>
File:Hosentaschen vorne 01.svg|Curved inset pockets, with a coin or watch pocket on right front pocket<ref>https://www.heddels.com/2019/06/types-pockets-pocket-dictionary/</ref>
File:EighteenthCenturyPocketsSwaledaleMuseumReethEngland.jpg|18th century-style hanging pockets
File:Tailored flap pocket with labels.JPG|Parts of a tailored pocket
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Handbag]]
* [[Pocket square]]
*[[Reticule (handbag)|Reticule]] 
* [[Wallet]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Picken|first=Mary Brooks|author-link=Mary Brooks Picken|title=The Fashion Dictionary|publisher=Funk and Wagnalls|year=1957}}
* {{cite book |last1=Carlson |first1=Hannah |title=Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close |date=2023 |publisher=Algonquin Books |location=New York |isbn=1643751549}}
* {{cite web|publisher=[[Victoria and Albert Museum]] |url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/features/pockets/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027131413/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/features/pockets/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-10-27 |title=Pockets |work=Fashion & Jewellery Features |access-date=2009-11-17 }}
* [http://textileapex.blogspot.com/2014/11/different-pocket-types.html Different Types of Pocket]

==External links==
{{Commons category|Pockets|lcfirst=yes}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A798159 BBC - h2g2 - A Very Brief History of the Pocket]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110819202953/http://larsdatter.com/18c/pockets.html 18th Century Women's Pockets]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110615180925/http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/p/pockets/ Pockets at the V&A]
*[http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/history-of-pockets/ A History of Pockets, Victoria and Albert Museum]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100918132003/http://www.vads.ahds.ac.uk/collections/POCKETS.html Pockets of History]

{{Clothing materials and parts}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Parts of clothing]]