I finally broke down and bought a new suit this week (since my old one was starting to fall apart), and once again had to wonder why the pockets on the suit jacket are sewn shut. In order to use the side pockets or the “hanky pocket” on the front, I had to get out the scissors and remove the stitching to open up these pockets.
Does anyone know why this is done? It seems like it is just extra work for the suit makers, since the pocket has to be made and then sewn shut, and it’s extra work for the consumer who has to un-sew it. Is there some practical reason for this that’s escaping me?
Fabric “hangs” better–it drapes more nicely–when it’s sewn together. That’s why you’ll often find ALL of the pockets sewn shut. The manufacturer wants you to decide which pockets to open and which to leave closed. Look at a nice suit (above, say, $800) and you’ll see how well it drapes.
Another reason: closed pockets prevents snagging on things while in the retail store.
This amateur seamstress’ opinion: Sewing the pockets shut helps ensure that the jacket will hang nicely on the hanger in the store. Open, that style of pockets could sag and look unattractive. Also, if the pockets are sewn shut, you know that no unpleasant surprises (e.g. dead bugs… or live ones :eek: ) will accidentally enter the pockets during shipping.
I might reply “they wouldn’t sew them shut if they were meant to be used”. but I won’t, because it would be facetious and wrong.
I think a previous poster got it about rigth when they said it was the buyer’s choice whether or not they were to be used. The default is “sewn shut”, from which I assumed that the designer would prefer them not to be used, but then it’s a lot easier for a buyer to snip them open if he wants than sew them shut if he doesn’t.
However I stand as a living testimony to the fact that stuffing your suit pockets full of crap, even anything much bigger than a slim cigarette case, leads to your suit’s lines going all wonky. And I have been known to pay upwards of, hell, twenty five quid for a suit (depending when I’m due in court, or whose granny has died). So I know what I’m talking about.
Well of course stuffing your pockets ruins the line. This is how suits teach us not to desire material posessions and bring us one step closer to Nirvana.
But the cops were going to be there any second and I had never so much as seen gold bullion before, so what else was I going to do? I wasn’t to know it was so heavy. You’ve never known humiliation until a policeman has strolled up to you and stopped you during your high-speed getaway.
Actually one of the quintessential sights in postmodern Glasgow is a chap ambling down the street, clearly having seen better days, with a large 500ml glass bottle of Irn-Bru sticking out of one suit pocket. So I suppose it’s just about what you need the suit for. Some people need it to carry Irn-Bru.
I bought a jacket that had the pockets sewn shut. I discovered this in the shop when I tried to stick my hands in the pockets while looking in the mirror so I could see how cool I looked. The salesman explained that the pockets are loosely sewn so the jackets “drape better” when hung. It is merely to prevent the pockets sagging open. When I eventually had to use a pocket and cut the thread it proved to be very loosely sewn.
According to GQ magazines style columnist, you should NEVER put anything in the front pockets of a suit. They remain as a throwback to when a suit coat was worn as one’s primary jacket. Now a days you simply look dumpy with a wad of kleenex, your wallet, and losing race track tickets stuffed in there.
Then it’s probably just basted (sewn without “locking” the stitches so they don’t pull out).
If there’s a sewing kit in your home, see if you have a seam ripper. I’d use that before scissors, so you don’t accidentally snip any other part of the suit.
The sew them shut to keep the suit from reanimating. To kill a suit you fill its mouth with salt and sew its lips shut…no wait, that’s a zombie. Never mind.
A friend of mine who had worked in the suit business once told me that it was because the suits were transported and stored on hanging rails - if, for some reason, another suit was jostled off the rail, the hanger hook might snag in a pocket of another suit on the way down and tear it.
Because the material can sag and stretch when things get put into it, its a good idea for stores to keep the pockets shut to prevent every single man who tries it on from stuffing his hands into the pockets as soon as he puts the jacket on. Would you buy a suit with saggy pockets?