People are only just realising what tiny pockets on the back of shirts are for

If you've ever wondered why the shirt you're wearing has got a teeny tiny little pocket near the waist, then you're not alone - but it actually does serve a purpose

Have you ever noticed that some shirts come with a tiny pocket at the back of them?

Many have overlooked this design feature and accepted that it's an unusual part of the shirt you've bought. But some people are only just realising that they exist and are super curious about the reason it's put on shirts.

Taking to Reddit's 'What Is This Thing' forum, one man questioned: "What is this tiny pocket on the back of my shirt?" They penned: "A small pocket on the back side of a shirt. Too small for anything more than keys!? Is this a common design feature? What is it for!?"

What is this tiny pocket on the back of my shirt
byu/dipperini88 inwhatisthisthing

It turns out it's apparently not a design feature, but it's reportedly a way for some companies to avoid specific tariffs when shipping to other countries. One claimed: "It's a vestigial device deliberately installed into a great number of imported shirts so that they classify as a specific article of clothing which avoids a tariff."

For example, some pointed out that if shoes have a fuzzy bottom, they are classed as slippers, which comes with a lower tariff, too.

"Wow, so basically, having the soles be more than 50% felt, it can be reclassified as a slipper. This is a loophole due to slippers having lower tariffs than shoes," someone penned.

Others shared more stories of items that companies had to find loopholes to avoid paying more money, claiming: "Back in the 80's and 90's Japanese SUVs had tariffs on them, but they were just shipped into the US with out a back seat so that classified them as a Van or something and they just installed the seats here."

A Redditor replied: "Fun fact: that tariff is still in effect. It's known as the 'Chicken Tax', and it was put into effect because, in the 1960s, post-war Europe put a tariff on US chickens to prop up their domestic chicken industry and domestic farms. The US retaliated with a 25% tariff on a variety of things, including light trucks.

"The tariff targeted European, especially VW and light truck exports, and also affected Japanese exports to the US. This resulted in the kind of thing you're talking about where vans would get imported to the US with seats and windows, so it was a passenger vehicle.

"The seats and windows would be removed, and the window holes would get welded over. It also led to amusing light trucks like the Subaru BRAT that had two flimsy backwards-facing seats in the truck bed. The chicken tax is why Toyota builds their trucks for the US market in North America."

According to Marketplace, some shirts are "intentionally designed with tiny pockets near the waistline, which lowers the cost of importing them".