What Is A Ticket Pocket?

Standard men’s suit jackets and sport coats come with three exterior pockets on the front: one at the breast, and two lower ones. A ticket pocket is a third lower pocket that sits just above the right lower pocket. You seldom see this on ready-to-wear garments, so it’s generally an indicator of a MTM or custom jacket.

Also referred to as a “cash pocket,” this design detail hearkens back to 19th-century England. At the time, travel for the wealthy (i.e. people who wore custom clothing) involved getting on a train out to the country. With this in mind, ticket pockets make the most sense on sport jackets and country suits as opposed to business suits or tuxedos.

Either way, tailors caught onto this and added a third pocket – the ticket pocket – to their offerings so their clientele could have a place to put such tickets – or cash, for that matter.

There’s also a bit of chivalry behind the ticket pocket. At the time, it was gentlemanly for a man to handle tickets and their related transactions for both himself and the woman he was with. A ticket pocket provided an easy way to stay organized and be chivalrous all at once.

Should you find yourself in a similar situation today, it is still the gentlemanly thing to offer to hold onto tickets and similar things for your date. It is not gentlemanly to insist on such behavior for the sake of chivalry.

Cash Pockets & Custom Jacket Design

FDR on a train in 1934. Note his ticket pocket and the fullness of the other gentleman’s jacket sleeves.

From a pure design standpoint, adding a ticket pocket to a jacket is somewhat formulaic. You discuss the idea with your image consultant, and if you both agree that it’ll work for the garment in question, you add it. Unless you specify otherwise, it will be the same style as the other lower pockets. Straight besom pockets will get a matching ticket pocket, as would slanted, flapped pockets. Our wine glass-shaped patch pocket looks particularly unique with a ticket pocket, and we invite you to try it out!

Whether or not your jacket should have a ticket pocket, however, is a different discussion. These pockets add some flair to a garment, so if you’re designing a suit for very conservative situations, you may want to eschew it. On the other hand, if you can get away with wearing something a bit bolder, consider one.

As it relates to body types, tall men benefit the most from ticket pockets. Since they add a horizontal line to your presentation, they don’t add height to a taller man’s frame. We admit that we’re splitting hairs here, but that’s our job.

It’s also worth noting that you don’t typically see these on tuxedo jackets. One aspect of formality is the minimization of bulk, so we generally advise our clients to forgo them.