Scrubs and shift wear

Pockets, and why the count is the wrong question

Six pockets sounds better than four until you find out where they are. Placement is the thing that decides whether you use them.

A number on the front of a listing

Pocket counts get advertised because they are easy to print. What the number never tells you is that a chest pocket and a cargo pocket do completely different jobs, and that a low patch pocket on a top is close to useless once you sit down.

The arrangement that actually works on a long shift is boring: something at the chest for a pen or badge, two on the trousers at the side for hands and a phone, and one cargo pocket low on the leg for the thing you keep losing. Six pockets in that arrangement is a good set. Six pockets in a worse arrangement is still six.

The waist decides more than the pockets

On shift wear the waistband is the part that fails first. An elastic waist with a drawstring survives a day of bending and reaching. Elastic alone rides. A fixed waist with no give is fine for two hours and unpleasant for twelve.

Both details are in the specification for most of these pieces, and both are worth more attention than the pocket count on the front of the picture.

Not only scrubs

Pockets show up in places people do not look for them. Plenty of our nightgowns and leggings have them, which matters more than it sounds when the alternative is carrying a phone up the stairs in your teeth.