Buzz
Some fashion details are so common that we don’t even give them a second thought (like why most zippers have YKK on them). This is probably why you never question the tiny pocket in your favorite jeans. But what’s its purpose?
Often referred to as a coin pocket, this small, shallow pocket above the main ones in your jeans wasn’t meant for loose change—its original design was actually for a pocket watch.
According to a 2012 Quora forum discussion highlighted by The Independent, the origin of the tiny pocket is credited to Levi Strauss, the creator of jeans in 1873. A 2014 blog post on Levi’s website confirms this, explaining that early versions of Strauss’s jeans (designed for cowboys) included this small pocket to “protect pocket watches.”
The company notes that although the pocket has been a feature since the early days of denim jeans, its name has changed over the past 140 years to match its various uses: “Frontier pocket, condom pocket, coin pocket, match pocket, and ticket pocket, to name just a few.”
