EDC

I often get asked, “How do you carry all of that?” when people new to the idea of EDC see pocket dumps with lots of gear. This photo post is just a brief look at my system of pocket carrying in standard 5 pocket jeans, meaning no bags, no pouches, no sheaths, no cargo pants, etc. Over a year or so I’ve found a system that’s most convenient and comfortable for me, so I hope these pictures inspire some ideas to help you out with any carry problems you might have.

The Back Right (Strong Side) Pocket: PRL Cardholder Bifold, Moleskine Volant Mini, Spyderco Leafstorm

As you can see, my main method of carrying “flat” objects of similar size is to stack them in the pocket. I also try to stack only as much as comfortable, and only as much to achieve a balanced depth in relation to the knife. From the in-pocket picture, you can see that in this configuration, they occupy 100% of the width of the pocket. The knife is clipped in open carry (at 2.75”, legal in LA county) and is easily accessible on my strong side. Furthermore, with a tip-up configuration, I’d rather have the knife in my back right pocket as opposed to my front right pocket, so in the strange event that the knife would somehow open tip up, towards my body, I wouldn’t hurt myself bending over or sitting down. As for the notebook, having it in back right pocket is where I would keep it if I’m only going to read from it. Otherwise, I usually keep it in my back left pocket and pull it out with the left, and use my right hand to write on it. Whoops~

The Back Left (Weak Side) Pocket: Phone, Handkerchief, Flashlight of the Day (4sevens Quark Ti 123 R5)

These particular jeans have rather long back pockets that sit low, which poses a gear retrieval problem, especially with my flashlight. As indicated by the giant red lines (u must deal), there is a considerable depth I have to reach with my fingers to get to the flashlight sitting at the bottom. A simple solution would be to install a clip on this light, but in a situation like this, whipping up a lanyard of some sort (remember all those paracord posts?) would help add length to the light for easier retrieval without much added weight. Conversely, my handkerchief peeks out just a bit for easier retrieval. The phone is kept upside down, as I reach for it and pull it out with my thumb on the home button to use it faster. Again, the phone and handkerchief are just about as thick as the flashlight, and together occupy nearly 100% of the horizontal space in the pocket. Everything fits snugly and the flashlight is kept upright in pocket.

Re: Weight Distribution and Symmetric Allocation

If you notice, there is a sense of symmetry not only in horizontal allocation (flashlight and knife needed in potential ‘tactical’ situations are on the outside, strongest sides, whereas less vital and softer/more flexible items are centered) but also in the depth/thickness of each pocket. It’s important to keep this in mind, as an unbalanced load on one pocket or the other can lead to spine problems down the road, especially if you find yourself sitting on your gear a lot (like I do at the library l o l). By pairing soft/flexible items and one ‘hard’ item and putting the ‘hard’ items on the outside, I minimize the chance of unwanted gear-to-gear contact damage. For example, my flashlight has ample knurling next to my phone, but the soft handkerchief between them acts as a cushion to prevent scratching. Lastly…

Front Right (Strong Side) Pocket + Coin Pocket: Zebra Sharbo X, Al Mar Hawk Ultralight

Not gonna lie, I wish jeans came with a coin pocket on each side. The coin pocket is a great place to store backup gear or misc gear… Here I have my best slicer, the Al Mar Ultralight. I took the picture with it outside of the pocket because it really disappears into the pocket, and at less than one ounce I don’t notice it’s there until I need it. This is a great place to carry smaller flashlights or multitools. The coinpocket was home to my Juice S2 for a long time. A note about carrying pens, especially clipped on the outside of the pocket (strongest side imo) on jeans with exposed rivets: pull the pen out with caution if you’re worried about the pen’s finish. You can see some wear on the black coated clip on the pen, this is from contact/scratching against the rivets on its way up (I normally pull the pen up between the rivets out of my pocket). Aside from clipping something slim like a pen or a knife, I avoid front pocket carry as it feels uncomfortable and looks awkward when it creates bulges.

That’s it for now… Next time you’re stuffing your pockets, think about ways to maximize convenience, minimize discomfort and find a good balance.

Good luck and carry on!