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Girls Deserve Pockets

by Eva St. Clair May 14, 2017 2 min read 13 Comments

At the park the other day, my daughter was climbing up the play structure with one hand, a small plastic bunny toy in her other. Upset that she was making no progress (!), she turned to me and asked for help.

“You don’t need any help,” I said. “Just put the bunny in your pocket.”

She looked surprised for a second, then opened up the pocket on her Rockets dress, and stuck the bunny inside. She climbed up the bars without a problem and smiled at me when she reached the top of the slide. She stuck her hand back in her pocket, retrieved the bunny, and slid down. Then she did it all over again.


Bug collectors need a dress with pockets.

Every day we hear from customers who are delighted that our dresses have pockets. One would think that every piece of kids’ clothing would come with dozens of pockets since kids are in constant need of them. Yet the vast majority of girls’ clothing (and women’s clothing too) is devoid of pockets. There’s a long history of why women’s clothes don’t have pockets, which you might enjoy reading about at the Mic and Racked.

Without doing rather a large amount of historical research, I would hypothesize that girls’ clothes don’t have pockets because, particularly in the last twenty years, girls’ clothing is often designed as shrunken-down women’s or teen’s clothing. Rather than thinking of girls as kids in need of kids’ clothing, many designers think of girls as mini-fashionistas in bubble skirts, big sunglasses, and heeled sandals that the vast majority of kids on the playground would never wear (or at least not as one outfit all at once while at the playground).


There’s a rocket in my pocket! Ok, it’s a space shuttle. Close enough for Rockets Girl.

The point is, girls’ clothing is often designed more for visual appeal than for utility - and that affects how girls play, move, and navigate daily life. We’re committed to making dresses with pockets - because we can, because they’re useful, and because girls deserve them.

Eva St. Clair
Eva St. Clair

Eva St. Clair is a co-founder of Princess Awesome and the company's Chief Creative Officer. She and her husband are raising four kids outside of Washington, DC.


13 Responses

Cheri
Cheri

November 01, 2020

The no pockets thing is such a rip off of women’s wallets. Manufacturers can get away with using less material on girls and women’s clothing while charging us high prices for the little utility and even less comfort of most clothing marketed to girls/women today. Thank you Princess Awesome for making a difference.

Ashley
Ashley

December 04, 2017

Yes yes and YES.
And more yes.

I bought a Rocket dress about a year ago for a 2 year old and the FIRST thing she did (after putting it on over her other clothes) was immediately start putting things in her pockets. I’m pretty sure that it was the first pocket dress she’d owned yet she immediately knew what to do with them. (half eaten candy cane to save for later? Yes please! (we fished that out to her chagrin) I already was in love with your concept & dresses, but then once I discovered that they also have pockets?!?! I tell everyone. Which reminds me, I definitely need to send you pictures of her on the Rocketday that I host. (because obviously all kids need to make model rockets and shoot them off right? And I wear my space dress (that has pockets) …. you see where I’m going here)

Amanda
Amanda

September 24, 2017

How revolutionary! Women/girls need to store stuff! Seriously! I’ve been annoyed to find out that the clothing I bought has pockets, but the pockets are not at all functional for anything larger than a tube of lipstick (because why would we need to store anything else?) Or I discover there are no back pockets to “streamline” my tush (really cuts down on the wind resistance as I cook and clean). My daughter has the same problems. She recently moved up to big kid sizes and was so excited that her clothes had “real” pockets. Meanwhile, my 20-month-old boy, who is pants-optional on a daily basis, has multiple functional pockets on every pair of shorts. If my daughter wasn’t in a dress-hating phase, probably for the very reason you’ve created your line, I would buy her some. She wants to dress “like a boy” — gee, I wonder why… comfort and function? Who wants that? Um… everyone!

Elizabeth
Elizabeth

September 15, 2017

Thank you!!!!! I’ve always said this! Women need pockets. It shouldn’t be such a difficult concept for clothing designers and makers to grasp. As consumers, we need to make ourselves heard!! Thank you again for your common sense :)

Maggie
Maggie

August 07, 2017

Could we just agree that women’s clothing, too, should have USEFUL pockets? For the 50 years I’ve been an adult, men’s suits have had at least 8 pockets, and often 14, while women’s suits — even trouser suits — have had 2 or 4 at most, and many have had zero. Maybe it’s an agreement with the manufacturers of purses? But anyway. Nowadays I buy men’s trousers at the thrift store, and wear them for almost every purpose. I would be thrilled if I could own one well-fitting business suit that had deep-enough, practical pockets.

I’m just delighted that this manufacturer is putting pockets in girls’ clothing — and I hope they’re the same depth and usefulness as the pockets for boys.

Amy
Amy

July 27, 2017

The worst are maternity clothes! I as working at a store and we wore aprons with the store’s logo, and they had lots of pockets. About the time in my pregnancy that I started wearing maternity clothes, cooperate decided to get rid of the aprons. Well, each employee was still expected to carry 1) their headset pack, 2) a cordless phone, 3) paper/pen, and as an acting manager I was also expected to have my cell-phone for emergencies. It was nearly impossible to find maternity slacks suited for my job (not jeans, but not dressy slacks) that had pockets put that stuff in or to clip all that stuff on! Not even back pockets!

Sheryl Lewis
Sheryl Lewis

July 21, 2017

I will never understand why woman’s pockets are not very deep. I cannot carry even my car keys in them. When I hang around the house, I wear my hubby’s basketball shorts. The pockets are deep enough and I can carry my cell phone in them while I clean and cook without the phone falling out. The last time I had my woman’s shorts on, my cell phone fell out onto the sidewalk and preceded to smash the glass front. I rest my case. I vote for deeper pockets in our clothes.

Ally
Ally

July 20, 2017

Honey (previous commenter, not snarky term of endearment), skirts and dresses are plenty practical. They’re cooler in summer than pants or shorts, and offer more comfort and freedom of movement than, say, jeans. Plus, for a little girl who’s new to the potty or still needs diaper changes, a skirt is a breeze and gets her back in the action fast. I agree that an ankle-length skirt is not a good choice for hiking or exploring, but a shorter skirt with pockets can be a great choice. She can have pants for when she needs them, no one here is saying she shouldn’t, but lots of girls like dresses and they can be good playclothes too.

Honey
Honey

July 09, 2017

Why not pants?? If you want utility, skirts and dresses are not practical.

Katie
Katie

June 28, 2017

I don’t even have kids and I love what you’re doing! I was raised by a single mom who worked in a STEM field but still faced the same issues all sorts of other girls face. In middle school I remember a teacher who had never met me calling me a bimbo because I developed breasts before most of my classmates. You are changing the world. Keep it up!

Carole
Carole

June 18, 2017

Just bought matieral to sew pockets on pj bottoms. Wish womens pockets were as deep as mens.:-)

Annie
Annie

May 20, 2017

Looking forward to the day you add an adult women’s line.

Sierra
Sierra

May 16, 2017

My 4 year old adores her Princess Awesome Pi dress. The pockets are fantastic. Thank you!

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