The other day, I was watching a football game when the game turned to a commercial break. One of the ads involved a young lady taking a phone out of her pocket to take a photo, then returning the phone to her pocket. The corner of the phone was left exposed as it sat in her pocket, and the advertisement paid no attention to this detail. However, this commercial had shown a major missed opportunity by the leading smartphone manufacturers; to enter the women’s clothing business.
Yes, you read that right and yes, I’m serious, Apple and Samsung should absolutely enter the feminine clothing industry. Specifically, these tech giants should focus on designing, producing and shipping women’s pants and similar products. It isn’t a secret that women’s pockets are much smaller than men’s pockets. This isn’t a recent discovery either; The Atlantic wrote a piece about this back in 2014 yet little progress has been made in the past nine years.
This is where Apple and Samsung can enter into the arena; with the launch of every new smartphone, they can launch a line of jeans, yoga pants and other clothing items specifically designed to fit the new phone into the pockets. It is clear that the fashion industry has chosen not to innovate, thus making them a prime target for disruption. Apple and Samsung are both flush enough with cash to not only enter the industry but could hypothetically become major players in the world of clothing. Don’t believe me? Apple profited over $170 billion last year, while Levi had a modest $3.5 billion in profits, so this is a risk that Apple could clearly afford to take. Samsung profited over $35 billion last year while lululemon only profited $1.5 billion in 2022. So, the tech giants could easily step in and take over, if they chose to do so.
The thing is, this level of diversification wouldn’t be unusual for either Apple or Samsung either. Apple made waves when they introduced the Apple Card (a missed opportunity not calling it iOwe or IBorrow). Samsung is massively diversified to the point of having a hand in nearly all facets of daily Korean life, so a move into branded clothing wouldn’t be a crazy idea. If the risk of entering the market proves to be successful, then both Apple and Samsung could engineer some growth into their portfolios, and tout major wins to their shareholders. If the gamble doesn’t work, then it was a weatherable hit for both tech titans. Entering into women’s clothing design would prove to be a low-risk and potentially high-reward move for both companies.
If Apple and Samsung wanted to truly take a creative risk and innovate, they could attempt to make skirts that have sleek pockets that could discretely fit their phones. Granted, I may not be an expert in skirts; after all, I’m neither female nor a Scottish man. However, this is currently a feature that is typically absent in either skirts or kilts, despite the former repeatedly asking for this feature. It is baffling to me that nobody has decided to cater to a large demographic that frequently purchases clothing.
Branding can play a powerful role in the move into clothing as well. Ardent PC and Linux users love to proclaim that Apple users are just paying for the branding, and here’s the kicker: they’re right. Apple’s branding is powerful, enough to convince their loyalists to pay a premium for their laptops, tablets, phones and even their credit card rates which can pass 29%. Suffice it to say that Apple can easily convince their consumers to pay a self-imposed prestige tax by slapping their logo on a pair of denim jeans. Given the relatively low price of denim and whatever the hell yoga pants are made out of, Apple stands to make a healthy profit from designing women’s jeans and yoga pants that have phone-sized pockets.
Samsung’s branding may not be as powerful as Apple’s when it comes to charging a premium. However, Samsung does have another tactic to use; it’s brand of overt defiance of Apple. Samsung has long marketed their devices as having superior features to that of Apple for a much lower price. Given that, if Apple were to move into the arena of clothing, then Samsung would likely need to enter as well. After all, Samsung has spent the better part of a decade building its brand on the premise of being able to outcompete Apple, and hence if they sit on the sidelines, they run the risk of alienating their customers. Rest assured, if Apple launched a product with a working feature, Samsung would soon follow suit. After all, letting Apple take uncontested market share would be an unforgivable Korean sin.
“Wow Dan, you mentioned yoga pants earlier. Not every woman is interested in that aesthetic. And you being a cis-hetero white male broaching that topic only shows how narrow-minded and toxic you are! Some of us just want to lounge around and play CoD all day” a pitchfork wielding female reader of mine will protest. Fear not, young Lady of Reddit; for Apple and Samsung could even branch into making baggy pajama pants and/or grey sweatpants that have pockets deep enough to contain their brand’s phones. That way, the tech companies can easily accommodate the disheveled 30-somethings that live in their parent’s basement while these unemployed losers smash the patriarchy by shouting obscenities at 3am to a bunch of 12-year-olds. These unhygienic blobs can sit in their gaming chairs with the full confidence that their smartphone will remain in place as it connects to the nearby Bluetooth speaker or as they stand in line at the local convenience store to buy more Mountain Dew and Hot Pockets. Equality for all!
“Well Dan, not all women can just walk around wearing yoga pants, Cheeto-stained grey sweatpants, or blue denim jeans every day. Some of us are motivated career women that need to get a job” an ever-persistent naysayer will proclaim. Apple and Samsung can both offer dress pants with the key feature of being able to pocket their phones as well. Thus, enabling women to attend job interviews and go to white-collar jobs with complete confidence that their smartphones will be able to slide comfortably in and out of their branded pockets.
Essentially, what I’m really saying is that there is no real reason that this feature cannot be implemented. Apple and Samsung would just need to come up with the design and test a few prototypes before outsourcing the manufacturing of these pants. Hell, if both Apple and Samsung choose to ignore this advice, then I’ll raise some VC dollars and pursue the idea myself. Given the massive demand of both phones and women wanting phone-sized pockets, I could take this idea all the way to the bank. My biggest difficulty would then be deciding what color Bugatti to buy.
I’ll take my MBA now…
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