What is Wednesday.
This weekly What is Wednesday post is aimed at answering some of the more basic and critical aspects of tailoring and the terminology we use to describe them. It stems from realizing that I’m constantly throwing out different terms with my clients and quite often they’re unsure as to what I exactly mean. The goal of this section then is to alleviate this terminology gap and provide you with some know-how to talk tailoring with a little more ease.
What is…a ticket pocket?
This week marks the final post on the type of front pocket options that are available to us. To review – our first look was at the range of standard pockets; that was followed by last week’s post on the slanted pocket while this week we look at the ticket pocket.
The ticket pocket refers to the mini pocket that sits above the main hip pocket. It’s important to note that it is only found only on one side; typically it’s the right side though there is no reason a left handed person cannot request for it to be moved over to the left.
From a style perspective any combination of the pockets we’ve discussed is possible. As you can see in the images above the ticket pocket can paired with either the slanted style pocket (left) or the flat sitting pocket (right). The vast majority of the time the ticket pocket will match the main pocket in terms of being a besom, flap or patch style. While that is the norm it is most definitely not necessary; in fact combining different styles is a great way to personalize a jacket and differentiate it from the others out there.
As for the why it exists – just like the hacking pocket it goes back to how things used to be in good old England. Originally it was referred to as a change pocket. In the days when horseback was the main mode of transport it was where equestrians would keep change to pay at toll points that they routinely would pass; it was a nice touch that meant they didn’t have to reach into the internal pockets of the jacket. Fast forward to the Industrial Revolution and the growth of the commuter railway and the change pocket becomes known as the ticket pocket. As for today – a bus or rail pass, business cards, your fob, keys or if you’re looking for a dash of dandyism you might want to throw a pocket watch in there for dramatic effect.
As always I’d love to hear your opinions on this or any sartorial subject for that matter. Better yet book a free appointment and we can banter in person and see if we might be a good fit to work together.
Take care – Michael
info@martinfishertailors.com
