Post on 05-Aug-2015
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.
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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