written by Rachel Gallaher | photography by Point of View

Aditi Sinha is on a mission. After more than fifteen years in the tech and consumer industries, the marketer-turned-fashion-designer is pushing for clothing equality—with a focus on pockets. At the beginning of 2024, in partnership with fellow industry alum Sakina Adeeb, Sinha launched Point of View, a Seattle-based fashion label focused on the design and production of contemporary, functional women’s workwear.

“I read this research that said that what women wear at work can impact their bottom line or earnings by up to 40 percent,” Sinha said. “That means, for better or worse, women are judged on their appearance. As I thought about that statistic, I realized that area needed some change, and that’s how Point of View came along.”

Offering everything from dresses and skirts to jackets and tops, Sinha’s label isn’t chasing trends, but that doesn’t mean racks of boring, formless office wear, either. Women—and their daily needs—are at the heart of Point of View’s mission, so every piece of clothing Sinha designs has to be comfortable and durable, but also something that will inspire and empower its wearer. Striking details such as draping, color blocking, accent ruffles and rows of buttons add personality to the garments without distraction. The pieces, manufactured in India, mix and match easily, and their timeless silhouettes lend themselves to creating the perfect capsule wardrobe. Sinha understands the emotional power of clothing and the importance of feeling good in what you put on every morning, and she wanted to give women easy options that would create confidence every time they walked through the conference room doors.

“When I worked in big tech, both here and back in India, I always wanted to be well dressed for work,” she said. “The men all came in with tailored suits, but somehow I was never excited when I was getting dressed for work. My work wardrobe accounted for about 80 percent of my life, but it wasn’t exciting to me whatsoever.”

She also noticed that most women’s clothing had a series lack of pockets—specifically ones that would fit an iPhone. One day at Amazon, she observed a senior leader who brought her 2-year-old son to the office for a “Bring Your Kids to Work” day. “They were going from one meeting to another, and the woman kept having to put her phone in her son’s pocket!” Sinha recalled. “He had six pockets, but his mom didn’t have any that would fit her phone. That was appalling to me and put a lot of things into perspective.”

Deciding to do something about “pocket inequality,” Sinha stepped away from her Big Tech job in 2023, joined forces with Adeeb, and travelled to Paris to immerse herself in the fashion capitol of the world. Looking to prioritize their clientele’s needs in the design process, Point of View’s founders interviewed more than 200 women to find out what was missing from their clothes. Aside from pockets, the final list included bra-strap holders, adjustable pant legs, elastic waists and machine-washable, breathable fabrics.

“We did a lot of sampling,” Sinha said, noting that she spent almost five months in India sourcing fabrics and scouting production facilities. “It was important to find the right manufacturer that would give us the right tailored silhouette. Even though this sounds simple, it’s super technical. During the day I would scour the markets, and at night I took a bunch of courses to understand and learn the technicalities of fashion and fabrics so I had some depth of understanding about the process and industry.”

In January 2024, one month before Point of View debuted its inaugural collection, Sinha launched a Change.org petition called the “Pockets Pledge” based on the statistics that “only 5 percent of women’s pockets can fit a smartphone, compared to 85 percent of men’s pockets. On average, women’s pockets are 48 percent shorter and 6.5 percent narrower than men’s pockets.” The petition, which is aimed at the Federal Trade Commission, demands “functional pockets in ALL women’s clothing items, from dresses and skirts to jeans and blazers.”

“It shouldn’t be thought of as ‘novel’ or a ‘luxury’ for women’s clothing to have usable pockets,” Sinha said. Nearly 400 people have signed the petition, and dozens more have provided positive feedback. While Point of View functions mostly as an ecommerce site, pieces are available locally through clothing rental company Armoire, as well as NC Concept Store in Edmonds.

“Going forward, we’ll release new pieces,” Sinha explained, “but not seasonal drops, which have been the norm in apparel industry. At Point of View, we’ve taken a conscious call to not embrace trends. We look at our clothing as investment pieces that you will wear—and look good in—year after year.”