Chelsea Summers (What do women want? Bigger pockets, Journal, 24 August) highlights one of the problems surrounding products aimed at women. We basically get the toy version that looks OK but is pretty useless when measured against the grown-up article.

Pockets used to be capacious, tied around the waist and reached through a slit in the skirt. They went out of fashion when skirts became narrow in the Regency period, and since then, certainly when clothes have been figure hugging, women have been encumbered with the handbag or versions thereof. It is time to embrace the pocket again. It will cost manufacturers hardly anything to lavish a bit more fabric on the pockets in women’s clothes and while they are at it, could they also add zips to some garments? Men’s jackets are awash with zips to keep pockets closed and the contents safe. I want a decent-looking, feminine jacket/fleece that can hold a phone, some money, keys, a handkerchief (winter approaches and with it the danger of a runny nose), lip balm, and any other garbage that I feel like taking on a walk – all without making me look like someone who is smuggling six large bags of carrots. And with zips – don’t forget the zips.

Michelle Gibson

Balsham, Cambridgeshire

• When searching for the perfect dress for my February wedding in 1996, it wasn’t fashion forward details or the most perfect fit that was on my mind. No, it was the impossible search for a functional dress, ie one with pockets! As Chelsea G Summers pointed out, my groom and all other male guests would be well catered for, with deep pockets in their trousers and jackets, but asthe bride, I was at a loss as to where I was supposed to store tissues, lip salve and notes for my speech. I was fortunate enough that my mother was able to pay for a dress to be made for me, and my first stipulation to the dressmaker was that deep pockets had to be sewn into the seams. The finished product has certainly symbolised our marriage, one grounded in equality and practical self-sufficiency.

Celina Viner

Brighthampton, Oxfordshire

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