Apple’s iPhone Pocket Is a Rorschach Test, Not a Must-Have Accessory
ISSEY MIYAKE and Apple today unveiled iPhone Pocket. Inspired by the concept of “a piece of cloth,” its singular 3D-knitted construction is designed to fit any iPhone as well as all pocketable items. Beginning Friday, November 14, it will be available at select Apple Store locations and on apple.com in France, Greater China, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the UK, and the U.S.
While it’s hard for Apple users not to think of the iPod Socks (see “Sockarooni!” 15 November 2004), your opinion of the iPhone Pocket likely reveals more about you than about it. Those who are sufficiently fashion-conscious to recognize Issey Miyake (makers of Steve Jobs’s black turtlenecks) probably have radically different opinions about the iPhone Pocket’s design and price ($149.95 for the short strap or $229.95 for the long strap) compared to those of us who don’t think twice about stuffing our iPhones into pockets or purses. It’s similar to whether you’re happy with a knockoff Apple Watch Sport Loop or willing to spend $1100 on a Hermès Satiné Grand H Fin band.
Personally, the idea of being inspired by “a piece of cloth” elicits an eye-roll, as does the notion of “singular 3D-knitted construction.” The pocket itself started as a standalone, tied-on pouch long before pockets were sewn into garments. And if you like the concept but the price gives you pause, you can find plenty of crossbody phone bags on Etsy for far less. With crocheted elephants! I wouldn’t be surprised to see knockoffs appear as the Internet knitting community rises to the challenge.
A small purse, barely big enough to hold a phone, and selling for $150 (or $230 for one with a longer strap). What are they thinking?
This is about as ridiculous as iPod Socks. The difference is that iPod socks were inexpensive, and so might be a reasonable purchase for some people.
But this thing is expensive and useless. Maybe a fashion statement for a few people with too much money on their hands. So again, what were they thinking?
What they’re thinking is that there is actually quite a large market for things like this. That you are not in that target audience does not mean it doesn’t exist. Check out the offerings from Macy’s. There’s a Hermes phone case there that goes for $4K.
I’d say if “Issey Miyake” is a meaningless name to someone, they are not part of the target market for this item.
As for me, the long strap version looks like a shoulder holster for an iPhone…perhaps putting a new spin on the STIR/SHAKEN telephone protocol. Plus I have an interest in textiles and design.
One sucker every minute, one thousand four hundred forty four minutes every day, three hundred sixty five days per year…one hundred fifty dollars per purse…gonna have to open Numbers here…
I’ve loved Issey Miyake’s work for decades but as with all High Fashion sometimes they get a little, well, er, silly.
Dave
True that! But that’s what makes the fashion industry interesting. Plus I think the iPhone Pocket fits into both Apple’s and IM’s aesthetic and design philosophies well. Many tech company attempts at collaborating with fashion designers feel forced, such as the Google Glass launch and the original Apple Watch.
…and less so all the time. I know this may be blasphemy, but I truly hate my iPhone (just the others are worse, and my family went berserk when I went w/o for several months awhile back… ;~}
Eh. Just about everybody spends silly amounts of money on something. If it gives pleasure, then by all means.
Note that it is available in a total of 10 Apple Stores worldwide, including one in the USA (New York, Soho) and one in the UK (London, Regent St). Also, 2 European sites, and 6 in Asia. It’s listed in the Apple US online store, but, spot-checking the various versions, it appears to be unavailable.
So, it appears to be the equivalent of the original Apple fashion watch.
Isn’t the launch date (or “drop”, in current lingo, ugh) at the end of this week? In any case, it’s a limited edition collaboration from two brands that are popular with “mass affluent” consumers—plus there is a Steve Jobs connection—so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a rush to buy and eventual eBay listings at even crazier prices.
I predict they will sell 4 of these in the next quarter. Maybe 5.
Sure, there is a market for expensive designer versions of any product. Sure, there are people proudly “fashion first” who will pony up. No argument. Howsomever… This thing is laughable.
Note that, in the videos promoting it, there is no human reaching (?) or fumbling to retrieve the phone. Just goofy Gumby stopmotion. How on earth do you slip the phone back after use without dropping it?
Next episode of “UI for the Straight Guy”.
Ahem. I use iPod Socks every day, and have an unopened package for backup.
That makes at least two of us…I use an old iPod Touch that lives in an iPod Sock as a music server in my car!
Trivia: The founders of Côte & Ciel, a bag maker, designed the iPod sock and made some Apple Store exclusive MacBook backpacks in the past.
Miyake designed Steve’s turtlenecks btw, who used to buy dozens a year. He retired the turtleneck in 2011 after Steve passed away.
To answer the original question, they were thinking like Apple these days. Have a product that sells for 230 bucks and costs about 8 cents to make. Ain’t Steve Jobs Apple, it’s Cook’s.
Steve Jobs shipped Apple Socks.
Since the appearance of the iPhone Max series I’ve waited in vain for the introduction of iPants™. A line of cargo trousers that could accommodate ever-larger phones would have unlimited growth potential.
Looks like I should’ve thunk different.
Now I’ll never look at an iPhone Pocket the same way.
LOL. That’s how the schmatta trade has always worked!
I remember the time when cell phone makers tried to make their phones as small as possible so they would fit in your shirt pocket. Now they are trying to make them as big as they possibly can.
I have my iPhone 17 Pro Max in a protective case and sometimes, it feels like I’m carrying a brick. Although I can still put it in my cargo pants pocket, it won’t fit in my jean pocket. iPhone Pocket sounds like a good idea. But there is no way I’m going to fork over $230 for it. Maybe my wife can make me one.
What were they thinking? Apple sells high end quality devices and you ask this? Did you think you were an Android user? No, you are among an elite. To some, that’s called fashion allure. Just admit it, you are a fashionista. That’s who’s going to buy it.
Plus who doesn’t need a hug these days?
And now it’s selling out:
…and as of this post, now sold out in all sizes and colors on the online Apple Store.
It’s easy to sell out of any item - don’t make very many of them. A certain Duchess used that particular ruse recently. Allegedly.
Well, MacRumors reports they are already selling out:
Intentionally making only a few of the things and selling them only in a few stores leads to news stories about selling out that – they hope – will lure more buyers once they make more (or ship the ones they left in the warehouse). And as others have observed here, different people handle their phones in different ways, put different values on storing their phones just right, and have different amounts of money to spend on glitz. I wonder what will happen if pickpockets find them easy to lift?
Or it’s genuinely popular.
Perhaps “popular” is the right call…
”It’s so cool design-wise because it’s designed by Issey Miyake,” said Lee Aizner, a 26-year-old women’s fashion designer in New York City. “As a designer, I love it. I heard it was sold out and it makes me immediately want to have it.” Aizner, who said she owns several Issey Miyake items, including a blouse and pants, said she hoped to buy one of the longer ones in black but that it sold out minutes before she arrived.
[…]
Owen Sanders, 29, managed to buy the last short pink iPhone Pocket at the SoHo location for his wife. “She’s a fan of the designer,” he said. “Every time somebody puts on a black turtleneck, people are like, ‘You look like Steve Jobs.’ And that’s because of Miyake and that is very meaningful.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-14/apple-issey-miyake-iphone-pocket-price-colors-review-where-to-buy-sold-out
I buy the popular take. Some folks are starved of fashion forward tech items. Witness the cases and stickers and charms. A designer led option from a top brand? Yep, eat it up. Even if I will never get the mankini out of my head.
iPhone Pockets — influencer utopia — definitely not for me.
The Joy of Tech chimes in…