10 things you need to know about Carhartt
A classic American workwear brand, Carhartt has always enjoyed a certain popularity. But overnight, the company experienced an exceptional boom and won millions of new fans, making it one of the most hyped brands of the moment. Here are ten anecdotes that will make you love Carhartt even more.
1. From Furniture To Clothing
The Carhartt Company was founded in 1889, in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Its founder, Hamilton Carhartt, was born in Macedon Lock, New York, in 1855, and grew up in southern Michigan. He started out in 1884 in the furnishing business, and success later led him to create his own products. In 1898, the company transitioned into a dedicated manufacturer of men's workwear apparel. Although it struggled at first, Carhartt persevered and, one day, he got talking to a railroad engineer, who assured him that he and his railroad friends all needed tough, durable clothing for their jobs. Carhartt decided to go into the clothing business, and his first product was a heavy-duty bib overall made specifically for railroad workers.
2. Humble Beginnings
Carhartt started out in 1889 on a shoestring. It had just two sewing machines and employed only five people. The first products were made exclusively of denim and duck canvas, and the brand's first slogan was "Honest value for an honest dollar".
3. A Train Car And A Heart
One of the things that has made Carhartt so successful, over and above its products, is its logo. The brand has changed its logo several times, but the very first one is the one that set the trend for the brand's future artistic direction. This first logo, introduced in 1889, used images of a train car and a heart to create a symbolic representation of the brand name: Car + Heart = Carhartt. The “Car Plus Heart” mark was used in catalogs, newspapers (as in the 1895 newspaper below) and on marketing materials. Pieces bearing the "Car + Heart" logo are obviously the most sought-after by collectors.
Want to learn more about workwear clothing?
We’ve got you covered with our collection of American Workwear & French Workwear books!
4. Plants Outside The United States
It's interesting to see the evolution of the company's name. When Hamilton Carhartt launched his first furnishing business, he named his company Hamilton Carhartt & Company. The name remained unchanged when Carhartt began making men's clothing in 1889. It wasn't until 1905 that he changed the name to Hamilton Carhartt Manufacturer, Inc. More surprisingly, five years later, he changed the name again to... Hamilton Carhartt Cotton Mills. This choice to emphasize "Cotton Mills" in the company name is significant. Indeed, from the '10s onwards, Carhartt wanted to expand its empire by opening plants just about everywhere... and even outside American borders. As can be seen on the reverse side of this 1925 invoice, Carhartt had a plant in Liverpool, UK, in Vancouver, Canada, and had just opened one in... Paris, France.
5. Back To The Land
For forty years, Carhartt was the American brand for railroad workers. Railroaders were clearly the number 1 target for Carhartt products. But after the Great Depression of 1930, which nearly forced the brand out of business, Carhartt changed its tune slightly. With the help of his wife Annette and son Wylie, Hamilton Carhartt launched the “Back To The Land” advertising campaign, essentially targeting farmers and ranch workers.
6. A Merger Soon Forgotten
In 1962, Carhartt incorporated two former behemoths of American workwear: the Crown Overall Company and the W.M. Finck & Co. Carhartt decided to change its logo and added their names to the label, creating the Carhartt-Headlight-Finck brand. The company introduced the Carhartt-Headlight-Finck overalls, which became known for their distinctive features. However, the company itself was not convinced by the rebranding and new logo. So, in the late 1960s, Carhartt redesigned its logo to the one that is familiar to us today. The triple-name label, representing the Carhartt-Headlight-Finck era, is considered one of the rarest labels in Carhartt’s history and is cherished by many collectors.
7. La Mode, la Mode, la Mode
After falling into disuse in the 60s, workwear made a comeback in the fashion industry in the late 80s. Carhartt, who had been selling their clothing to the Japanese since 1987, seized the opportunity and displayed its outdoor working jacket at New York fashion shows for the first time in 1991. This sparked the 'Workwear' trend. By 1993, Carhartt had also gained street credibility : the brand soon caught the attention of rappers and hip hop stars who began to embrace it. Consequently, Carhartt started appearing on TV shows and in prominent publications like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.
8. Work In Progress
In 1989, the centenary of Carhartt's founding, Swiss designers Edwin and Salomée Faeh, who specialized in denim, discussed representing the brand in Europe during their visit to the United States. They began by selling Carhartt's original workwear. By 1994, they were granted a license to create their own clothing lines under the name Carhartt Work in Progress (WIP). WIP is the streetwear iteration of the Carhartt brand, often likened to brands such as Stüssy or Supreme.
9. Heart-Shaped Pattern
Among vintage denim collectors, Carhartt garments are obviously highly prized. Chore jackets and overalls from the early 20th century can fetch several thousand dollars. Garments with heart-shaped buttons, or the first label with the Car-Heart logo, are the most sought-after. But the Holy Grail are Carhartt pieces made not from denim, but from Stifel fabric (wabash fabric). The reason? Stifel had made a unique heart-shaped pattern for Carhartt garments. These extremely rare pieces are virtually impossible to find.
Early 1900s Carhartt Union Made Clothing Fabric Sample Mailer © http://www.vintageworkwear.com/
10. A Family Affair
135 years after the brand was founded, the Carhartt Company is still owned by the Carhartt family. Indeed, when Hamilton Carhartt died in 1937 in a car accident, it was his son, Wylie, who took over the business. In 1959, it was the turn of Wylie's son-in-law, Robert Valade (his daughter Gretchen's husband), to become CEO. He made a major contribution to the company's development. On Robert Valade's death, his son Mark took over the company, alongside his mother Gretchen (she died in 2023), and remains CEO to this day. Two of his children, Cam and Gretchen Valade, are also currently in the business, making it the fifth generation.
Gretchen Carhartt Valade, her son Mark Valade and her grand-daughter Gretchen Valade