The "claw grip" describes the growing trend of women carrying an excessive number of items in one hand, including water bottles, phones, wallets, and sunglasses, often due to the lack of functional pockets in women's clothing. This phenomenon has gained significant traction on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where women share videos of themselves demonstrating their carrying abilities, with one woman managing to hold 15 items in a single hand.
This behavior is not new, with comedian Atsuko Okatsuka noting her grandmother always used a claw grip. The trend highlights a broader issue in women's fashion, where handbags, despite being a major industry, often fail to accommodate everyday necessities. This has led to an online competition among women to see who can carry the most, and even challenges for men to replicate the feat, which they typically struggle with.
The claw grip has inspired new fashion products, such as Hailey Bieber's Rhode phone case with a built-in lip gloss holder, which garnered a waitlist of over 200,000 customers, and Glossier's terry-cloth shorts with a small pocket designed for lip balms. Marc Jacobs also offers a "Glam Claw Clip Shoulder Bag" for $237 that includes a removable claw clip for hair. Beyond practicality, some theories suggest the claw grip reflects the mental and emotional burdens women carry, symbolizing their constant multitasking and feeling of needing to maintain control.
