Pockets on Women's Pants

[Pauline Tasci]

If any of you want to experience what it's truly like wearing women pants and the struggle of them; wear them to a competition if you are on pit crew.

You end up not having a place to carry tools when you go off to the practice field or a match and have to carry a backpack everywhere... it's quite frustrating.

[Lireal]

Why not just wear a light jacket with pockets? That is what most of the girls on my team end up wearing, and as long as it isn't too hot, there have not been any issues.

[Pauline Tasci]

Originally Posted by Lireal

Why not just wear a light jacket with pockets? That is what most of the girls on my team end up wearing, and as long as it isn't too hot, there have not been any issues.

Nearly impossible in California.
We're all sweating by the first hour of pits open usually.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by AlexanderLuke

From what I have seen and heard from the ladies themselves, Dickies female pants are no better. Just about 2" deep pockets on them, and nothing much more of that, but I would not be the one to make the final say on that. I can certainly recall that male sized pockets I have come across for team event use, which are Dickies or similar style pants, are around 8" deep.

Dickies have lines geared towards work, and others that are pretty much just pants. I'm certain female students in 973 have used the work oriented line with larger pockets.

I love dickies for robotics, low priced and super durable.

[Sperkowsky]

I guess the lack of pockets is from clothing makers expecting all women to carry pocketbooks. Kinda absurd if you ask me although outside of a robotics competition the idea isn't that far fetched.

Off topic. Cargo shorts are actually more in style than they used to be.The best pants I have used for FRC are actually these. They are very expensive but on sale for right now. They have a gigantic pocket on the right that can hold a small laptop and a normal pocket on the other side. They are also very high quality and very warm. Ironically if you check out the woman's version here you notice it is missing the big amazing pocket....

[Gdeaver]

Some of the women I know who work construction like the pants from Aramark
https://shop.aramarkuniform.com/home

The girls might have to choose between making a Fashion statement and comfortable, functional, durable work wear.

[WinterPoet]

As a girl, I can definitely agree with the pocket issue. Even if you avoid trying to make a fashion statement, there are still very few options out there. If you notice, sites like Aramark and Dickies have fewer options for women, and they are often more expensive. That's why I'm a fan of buying men's pants. They don't always fit as well (especially not if you have hips like mine!), but it's worth it to have a pair of cheaper, reliable pants to work in. I know a lot of girls, especially those who work in STEM or construction who do the same thing.

[SoftwareBug2.0]

Originally Posted by Lireal

Why not just wear a light jacket with pockets? That is what most of the girls on my team end up wearing, and as long as it isn't too hot, there have not been any issues.

You could also go for aprons. Some of the boys on my team have been known to do this, inspired by team 360.

[frcguy]

This might be slightly off topic, but as someone who is known to like clothing and outerwear with lots of pockets, here are my experiences from this season:

Whenever we were doing serious woodworking like building the defenses and field objects, I wore Carhartt overalls. They have lots of pockets and are super durable, so they are great when building stuff. For the rest of the season, I just wore whatever clothes I wore to school that day. After the season, I picked up one of these Mechanix Wear Aprons. I really like it, and it is great for keeping grease, metal shavings, etc. off your clothes. It also has huge pockets for storing pretty much anything.

As far as at events, I find myself stuffing my pockets with whatever I need. This season it typically included: grease, rags, zip-ties, my Leatherman (either a Crunch or Wingman), flashlight, and other random stuff. As having all this stuff in my pockets sucked, I have one of these bags (this particular one isn't availible but 5.11 still sells it in other colors) that I might try for holding everything. While it might look a little silly (my friends and I call it a tactical purse), it has more space to store things. If you are looking for something to hold what you need at a competition, I would probably go with that, as it's small enough to not be a nuisance but big enough to carry everything.

[techhelpbb]

Try a tool bag?

I am trying to remember if I ever had anything in my pockets that wasn't what I normally have in my pocket during a competition. Can't say that it was all that common except maybe a shirt pocket. I mean I am a pocket protector kind of guy.

On one rare exception I had carpenter's pants on. So in the lower pockets I had a few things.
http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/m...s-for-men.aspx

For the Ladies:
http://women.duluthtrading.com/store...cessor=content

This topic amuses me: I have taken several sewing classes. Almost without fail the Ladies think I found the wrong classroom. I guess people don't think about tailors and the guys that used to sew all the ship sails.

[kristinweiss]

#makefannypacksgreatagain

But actually I would love to see fanny packs make a comeback because girls' pockets are a joke. The pockets on Norts are just barely large enough to hold a phone, so at competitions I throw all my other stuff in my oversized "mom purse" and keep it in a somewhat secure place close to the field where I can easily access it.

[Jessica Boucher]

Pro tip: Crossbody bags. 80% of my purse collection is crossbody bags. Ideally, you're looking for something smaller than a piece of paper, vertically aligned, no flap, with a zipper top. You need to be okay with washing out the liner when grease eventually gets in the bottom. Or if you're looking to resell it, black fabric lining.

Marc Jacobs, Rebecca Minkoff, and Kate Spade are my favorites. I take off extra tassels so they don't get caught and clean them after events.

[ctt956]

Repor...oh wait. This isn't spam...

Tool belts or pouches may be a good alternative.

[adciv]

This sounds like a good time to plug skirts Utilikilts.

On a more serious note, I've seen this come up before even outside of robotics. Best I can say is look at what Uniqlo (ユニクロ) offers.

[DaveL]

Pockets are great and useful when being mobile, but they do have their downsides.

- The biggest issue we used to have were tools accidentally being taken home.
- Its one less place to look, when something is missing.
- Aluminum shavings have a way of ending up in the pockets.

I realize pockets are useful on home construction projects. But in the shop, I never use my pockets. Not even for a pen.
Everything stays on the table. I group the tools on one side, the robot and actively used parts on the other side and backup parts in a box. It makes it easy to find stuff when everything is visible.

For those in hot environments maybe something like a fisherman's or cameraman's mesh vest would work. Breathability and pockets in one garment.

http://www.orvis.com/p/clearwater-mesh-vest/44hy
https://www.amazon.com/Cool-Fisherma.../dp/B0114A3UY2