EDC Methods: Pocket Tether

EDC Methods is a series of posts about everyday carry gear concepts, tips and hacks. View all related posts or check out the gear shop.

The pant pockets. Hand-sized internal pouches in the waist and upper leg area to carry small but important items. Reach in, grab, take out, use, then reverse.

It defines convenience and accessibility. But that’s what also makes whatever pocketed item to be vulnerable to accidental loss and damaging drops.

Some pants have velcro, button or zipper closure pockets to secure them inside but with a tether, you can minimize loss or drop damage to nearly zero.

This EDC method is quite simple. It’s just about anchoring a flexibly elongating material to the pants on one end and any given item on the other.

Basically a scaled down version of an assault rifle sling or a more versatile and lightweight wallet chain.

There are countless items you can “leash” with this concept but I started doing this specifically for my smartphone carry. As a vagabond, I rarely spend a week on the same bed, ride the same vehicle or even kind of transport consecutively and do a lot of exploring.

This means “misplacing” is the same thing as “lost forever”. Whereas to most others it means they can retrieve the misplaced item later.

But with the same as most others, the phone itself is monetarily valuable yet always replaceable, it’s the contents that’s invaluable and often irreplaceable.

This security gives me a priceless piece of mind.

My smartphone (currently the Xperia Z5 Compact) being quite literally connected to my hip in a slingy manner can rest tight and taut in my pocket vertically upright along the thigh for comfort and ease of access.

Pulled out, the coiled paracord expands to as much as my hands need them to for use. If slipped from the hand or dropped out of the pocket, the phone is softly retracted and ever-attached to my person.

While I primarily use the EDC pocket tether method for my phone, it can be used for almost any other hand-held object; keys, knives, tools, flashlights, cases etc.

There are many ways you can build your own or even buy a prebuilt one but here’s how mine is made:

I connected an Arcus Carabiner ($40) to one end of the coiled paracord kit ($10) then replaced that clip with a Python Clip ($9). That’s all there is to it.

You can mix and match any number of different variations to suit your needs and tastes.

Not all items will have a latchable point or compatible clip access port. So I made a universal anchor port with kevlar cordage in 5 minutes. Here’s how:

Using 4 inches of kevlar cordage, loop it once around a stable part of whichever item you with to anchor. Leaving enough slack to later attach your desired clip into the loop, make a reef knot.

Add a small drop of super glue on just the knot and press with your finger so that the glue absorbs into the kevlar strands. After it hardens, trim the excess cordage.

Optionally, add another anchor right beside as in the photo for added security. But the anchors should be independent, not connected to each other.

This can also be used to attach larger items when reversed with more significant pockets and backpacks. As shown, the clip is attached to the jacket pocket and the carabiner is instead used for equipping an item.

EDC Methods: Pocket Gear Tether