Brand History

Hamilton CarharttBorn 1855

Grew in South Michigan

Added an extra ‘t’ to his name in order to stand

out.First established a

furnishing business.

Founded in 1889

Started with 4 sewing machines and 5

employees

GOAL ‘Set standard for excellence’

1ST PRODUCT Overalls made from

duck and denim fabrics

THE GREAT DEPRESSIONresulted in only 3 plants being left open however

Wylie, Hamilton Carhartt’s son launched a campaign ‘Back to the land’ which

became popular with Farmers and Ranch

workers.

Hamilton Carhartt died 1937

The company still remains a family owned

business

“Mills to Millions”

"I believe that when a man wears an article that I

manufacture, his self-respect is increased because he

knows that it is made by an honest manufacturer, who is honest with his employees" -

Hamilton Carhartt

Advised to stand out and find a niche Carhartt spoke to

Railroad engineers, encouraging him to

create overall garments specifically

for them.

80/9

0sCarhartt was already

selling to Japan solely for fashion in 1987

The emergence of Carhartt as a fashion label started when crackdeals

started wearing the jackets on the street. Spending a lot of time on the

streets they needed to keep warm and the multiple pockets were useful when

carrying alot of gear around.

Kids saw these guys, and through copying it became the hip thing to

wear.

1989, Tommy Boy records picked up on this already hot trend and used the

jacket as a promotional tool, giving them away at shows and even

embroidering their company logo.

Hip Hop artists such as Kriss Kross, Dr Dre and Snow all wore the label

religiously therefore channels such as MTV was bombarded by the label.

Kriss Kross even wore the label to the American Music Awards.

1991 Carhartt presented their Outdoor Working

Men’s Collection at New York Fashion Week and was stocked at the likes

of Barneys.

1992, 2 million jackets sold to

army navy stores and boutiques.

Kmart wanted a multi million deal

but Carhartt specified that it

didn’t sell to discount stores.

Vogue assured its readers that it’s

the “hottest label”

Appeared in Jump Around

music video by House of Pain.

Naughty by Nature modelled

Carhartt for Rolling Stones

magazine.

80/9

0sThis was the start of when people started appreciating function over

form. From the west to the east of America there was a distinct difference in how

these hip kids used the Carhartt brand. New York preferred the mustard

browns, hunter greens and baggy corduroy jeans, whereas in LA so

called ‘chain gangs’ wore their Carhartt in darker shades and t shirts

underneath buttoned at the neck shirts.

HOWEVER, this rise in popularity left many disappointed as all plants were maxed.

By 1993 `Carhartt had to turn down accounts from department stores and store

chains.Carhartt found it difficult to find a balance between their new urban market and their

traditional market, as their main target market began to not being able to buy the

clothes they wanted to. This led to 2 more distribution centres being

opened, even a plant in Mexico.

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Other brands started to get on this new fashion trend. Brands such as Quicksilver, a southern Californian

surf brand introduced its own ‘Working Class’ collection. This

included oversized shirts, pants and heavier fabrics found in workwear.

Customers grew tired of the 80s constant change in trends and

wanted clothes with more value, or at least perceived value.

With this new consumer Carhartt didn’t want to simply

cater for this new target market and lose its roots.

Carhartt occasionally found itself in Europe through small imports

by independent companies and

acquired a small group of fans.

A German denim entrepreneur in 1996 struck a deal with Carhartt to manufacture Carhartt outside the USA. This

lead to the creation of Working In Progress.

The new branch of the brand uses Hamilton’s ideas as the starting point then remixed to appeal a European

audience.

WIP is produced exclusively for Europe and is reinterpreted, the original cut is adapted such as the jeans

are slimmed down and sleeves have become shorter, more appropriate for an active lifestyle.

Carhartt has become the largest street wear brand in Europe. US consumers are usually shocked when they visit Carhartt in Europe as American sizes come up to 52 inch

whereas WIP stops at 36 inch.

Collaborations

From my research I would place Carhartt at a bridge market level. It’s items are of luxury quality and are priced equally so. It is accessible to those in the know, yet still remaining exclusive.

FilmThe Town (2010)Warrior (2010)Don?t Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)The Kids Are All Right (2010)Country Strong (2010)The Company Men (2010)Winter?s Bone (2010)Brothers (2009) Did You Hear About The Morgans? (2009) Longshots (2008) The Family That Prays (2008) Into The Wild (2007) Be Kind Rewind (2008) Smart People (2008) Beer For My Horses (2008) Jumper (2008) Are We Done Yet? (2007) The Ultimate Gift (2006)

Work in Progress has closely involved

Carhartt with the European skateboarding

and BMX scene.

“Honest value for an honest dollar”

Carhartt WIP817,805 Facebook likes10,024 Twitter followers108.3k Instagram followers