Have you ever wondered what that small pocket inside the larger one on your jeans is for? You know, the tiny, seemingly pointless space that doesn’t look big enough to hold anything useful. If you’ve ever tried to put something in there, you’ll notice it’s too small for a phone, and trying to fit cash or keys is just awkward.
Most jeans, whether for men or women, come with two front pockets and two back pockets. But if you take a closer look, you’ll often spot a small pocket within one of the front pockets. Nearly all jeans have it, and its existence has left many of us puzzled.
As mentioned earlier, this pocket is far too small to hold anything substantial, so what’s it for? To find out, we have to travel back almost two centuries. That tiny pocket isn’t a modern feature; it was originally created to solve a problem that no longer exists today.
The answer lies with Levi’s, the legendary jeans manufacturer.
According to The Independent, the first “extra” pocket appeared in the 1800s. Its purpose? To serve the most common wearers of jeans at the time: cowboys.
Cowboys often carried their pocket watches on chains or in their waistcoats, but these methods made the watches vulnerable to damage during their daily tasks. To fix this, Levi’s introduced a small pocket specifically designed to hold a watch safely. Cowboys could keep their watches in these pockets, protecting them from being broken while riding.
Talk about innovation!
I had no idea either. It’s pretty incredible that this design has persisted in jeans to this day. Cowboys may be a thing of the past, but their watch pockets live on!
