Carhartt WIP started life towards the end of the 1800s as a clothing brand for the men that worked in tough jobs like on the railway lines. When Hamilton Carhartt founded Hamilton Carhartt & Company he only had two sewing machines and five employees but now the company has grown into a work clothing and fashion brand for men and women. Although he wasn’t instantly successful, Hamilton Carhartt got the idea to go straight to his target audience and they inspired him to create the brand that still stands today and a motto of: “Honest value for an honest dollar”. Today Carhartt WIP acknowledges that hard work isn’t gender specific and creates women’s clothes as well as men’s.
Carhartt has always seen the value of women’s work and despite being under massive pressure during the stock market collapse in the late 1920s, he still lobbied for women’s rights in the work place and for the 8-hour work day. During the 70s and 80s, Carhartt found unexpected international popularity in the punk, grunge and hip-hop scenes while trends emerged in the US, Europe and Asia. From that point, Carhartt’s place in men’s and women’s clothing fashion has found a firm place in street culture across the world.
