Even at the Peak of Luxurious Leather Workwear, Carhartt Is Still King
While leather workwear has been flooding the market, one brand’s silence has been noticed. Carhartt, undeniably the biggest name in workwear, has not engaged with this reimagining of blue-collar uniforms — until now.
Newly uploaded onto Carhartt WIP’s website (WIP is its streetwear-focused division) is a two-piece set consisting of a faux leather Detroit Jacket with single-knee carpenter pants. And according to the brand's latest lookbook, there are also leather shorts and chore coats incoming.
The set comes with Carhartt WIP’s signature square woven label replaced with an all-black artificial leather one — a more minimal, more high-end look.
While many have replicated Carhartt’s signature workwear styles, this is the real thing and it costs a lot less than what’s offered by the luxury house leather workwear perpetrators: Carhartt’s take costs $265 for the pants and $388 for the jacket.
Louis Vuitton, Bottega Veneta, Off-White… their leather carpenter pants all have hefty four-figure-plus price tags. And there are plenty of similarly expensive leather chore coats to go around.
These buttery leather takes on hardwearing workwear staples are so ubiquitous that even Zara — the fast fashion company that prides itself on being the first to mimic what’s on the runway — has a full carpenter pant and workwear jacket set on offer.
Now Carhartt, the brand synonymous with workwear, has entered the chat.
Of course, a large reason for Carhartt WIP’s more affordable price point is that its workwear set is made of PU leather. If you’re in the market for something similar made from top-grade leather, Carhartt WIP also has collaborations with Marni and Junya Watanabe to satisfy your cravings.
But the point is that this newest release offers a similar look to those collaborations for a fraction of the cost.
