Who’d have thought we’d rediscover the love of workwear, and all thanks to Carhartt?

Usually, when we’re gone we’re gone, bags packed, dog dead, three strings on our guitar, with just one key left on our key chain, and so we didn’t think we’d get back that workwear love. But we have, with a timely reminder from a friend, about the genius of Carhartt workwear.

We’re a screen printer, embroiderer, re-labeller, and waffler on about all things fashion man. Like how to start a clothing brand that stands half a chance of not ending up on the pooh pile, with all the other 500 clothing brands that will start tomorrow. We specialise in dream management, and giving the impossible a fighting chance …. with some success.

Ending up in the fashion groove didn’t happen by accident. Well actually like all things it probably did, unless you believe in God, and predestination in which case, it was all mapped out. It happened because our industry is split very broadly into: school wear = boring; promotional wear = cheap and boring; and work wear = hard hats. The fourth option was fashion, and as we get to wear stupid outfits at trade shows and smoke obscure Japanese fags, there was no contest. Or was there – could workwear be cool?

Well it would appear so, and we were reminded of this fact by an old friend. He waltzed across the loading bay a while back, our old pal from way back when there was taste, that massive fashion head, Dean Webster. Famous for game changing brands before your time and stylist to the discreetly great. It was as always a pleasure to see him, and start work on a project for Edwin Jeans in collaboration with Kyle Stewart at Goodhood, (the street compass for all things now).

So we were chatting, smoking Japanese fags, remembering all the old brands, the old fashion lags, the ducks the dives and scrapes, when thanks to the Edwin connection, the Japanese denim story and a bunch of other random roads, it was inevitable we ended up at Carhartt workwear.

‘Why don’t you sell it?’ Dean asked. ‘Because all workwear is ball twistingly boring, and photographed on a bloke called Big Dave in a boiler suit, holding a ruler – so he looks like he’s doing something useful’

‘No way man’ said Dean, ‘Checkout Carhartt workwear, and trust me brother, you will see the light’

It was difficult to see anything in all the Japanese fag smoke, but it cleared, I looked up, and Dean was gone, probably back to Berlin to start another trend.

Unsurprisingly, it got us thinking. And unsurprisingly it got us looking. And guess what, unsurprisingly, we saw Carhartt, and we saw the light.

But have you seen the Carhartt workwear product range recently?

Workwear is not really the right word. You’d wear it anywhere. If the truth is told we decided to offer the Carhartt workwear range because we want the jeans, the jackets, the flannel shirts, the bibs, the hats, the coming soon boots, and we’ve had several orders in from passing dogs, for dog beds and the rather stylish dog collars. We may not need serious workwear in our print room, it’s not exactly the building of the United States that Carrhartt have been doing since 1889. We’re cleaning screen printing equipment, not roping wild horses, hanging off skyscrapers and building Ford Mustangs, but so what, in all that clobber walking in slow motion across the car park, we look like working class heroes too.

We’re not well known as those who re-discover the love, cross us and we’re usually gone, but when it comes to workwear and Carhartt, we’re singing country love songs all over again.

Also read: Carhartt: one name, two very different menswear brands