Carhartt WIP Mens Clothing & Accessories

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Carhartt WIP is the European arm of the American workwear brand, reworking the originals with roomier cuts and a wider run of fabrics and colours. The Detroit Jacket and Michigan Coat lead the
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278 products

About Carhartt WIP

From Detroit workwear to European streetwear

Hamilton Carhartt started making overalls for railroad workers in Detroit in 1889. A century later the clothes had found a second audience: by the early 1990s rappers, graffiti writers and skaters had adopted Carhartt for exactly the reasons labourers had, and the brand's street reputation was made without a marketing budget behind it. Edwin Faeh had been importing American goods into Europe since 1989, and in 1994 he established Work In Progress as the exclusive European distributor. Two years later WIP acquired the licence to manufacture Carhartt products outside the United States and began designing its own collections. The first Carhartt WIP store opened on Neal Street in London in 1997. The company runs from Weil am Rhein in Germany, with design teams in Basel and Berlin, and over a hundred shops across Europe, Asia and the US.

What the two lines share, and where they part

The heritage is the same and the construction is comparable — heavy cotton duck canvas, triple-stitched seams, reinforced stress points. What differs is the cut and the range. Carhartt WIP builds roomier through the body and shoulder, works in far more fabrics and colours than the American line, and produces pieces the parent brand never would: enamel mugs, incense, dog beds. The square yellow logo tab is the constant.

Fabrics and fits

Duck canvas is the signature — a tightly woven cotton that starts stiff and softens with wear, used on the Detroit Jacket and the Michigan Coat. Rigid means untreated and will shrink slightly on first wash; rinsed and stone washed have been treated already and won't move much. Denim on the Aaron Pant is cut wide and tapered. Across the range, sizing runs generous by design, because most of it was drawn to be layered.

Browse by category in coats and jackets, trousers, t-shirts and homeware, with reductions in the Carhartt WIP sale.

Carhartt WIP FAQs

Work In Progress. Carhartt WIP was established in 1994 by Edwin Faeh, initially as the exclusive European distributor for the American workwear brand Carhartt, which was founded in Detroit in 1889.
They share the same heritage but are run separately. Carhartt is the original American workwear company. Carhartt WIP took the licence to manufacture outside the USA in 1996 and designs its own collections, reworking the classic pieces with modern cuts, fabrics and colours for a streetwear audience. Carhartt WIP is headquartered in Germany with design teams in Basel and Berlin.
Both use heavy cotton duck canvas and reinforced construction on their core pieces. The difference is in cut and finish rather than build: Carhartt WIP fits are generally roomier through the body and it produces a wider range of fabrics, prints and colours than the American line.
The Detroit Jacket, the Michigan Coat and the OG Chore Coat in outerwear, the Double Knee and Simple pants, the Acrylic Watch Hat beanie, and the pocket t-shirt. The yellow square logo tab is the constant across all of them.
Cuts are generous by design, particularly on outerwear and trousers, which are built to layer. Fits vary between styles, so check the measurements on each product page, or try pieces on at either shop.
Yes. We stock Carhartt WIP at both Yards Store shops — 13 Old Bank Street in Manchester and 86 Pinstone Street in Sheffield. Stock differs between the two, so call ahead for a particular piece or size.