I have a few different jackets and vests with zippered pockets. Some of them zip closed from bottom to top while others zip closed from top to bottom. Minutia? quite possibly, but I started wondering which design was better and I haven’t come to a decision yet.

The case for zipping up

1. A half-open zipper is still closed on the bottom half, this reduces the likelyhood that something will fall out of your pocket if you’re unaware that your pocketis half open.
2. On jacket pockets, the handle or toggle on the zipper is less likely to rub against your hands if it is closed further up your jacket (say at elbow height).
3. Familiarity – most zippers zip closed from bottom to top (the main zipper closing your jacket, the zipper in your jeans, etc.) so people are accustomed to zipping up to close a zipper. This is somewhat offset by the fact that the examples I gave have an open end at the top of the zipper (apples to oranges).

The case for zipping down

1. The biggest reason zipping down is a good idea is because it has the potential to do the least harm. Zippers get caught and zipped down by accident much more commonly than they get zipped up. If the down position is closed, the danger of having something accidentally fall out of your pocket is greatly reduced.
2. Zipping down is easier than zipping up because the jacket is braced at the top (over your shoulder so the material is pulled taught. Since zipping something closed is probably more important (to not lose something for example), it makes since to have this be the easier motion.

So there you have it, which would you choose if you were designing a jacket? And while we’re here, what random things has your mind pondered?