What It Means To Be A Working-Class Clothing Brand In America Today

Most of the clothing Ross buys is Hanes, American Eagle or Costco’s Kirkland brand (“very affordable”). The 20-year-old welder from Indianapolis only splurged on Carhartt because his boss told him to purchase some through the company’s supplier for work. He liked the brand so much that he now owns a Carhartt hat and jeans, “like the kind Gary Johnson wears.” “I got them from work but the pockets are big so I like them,” he says. “I wear [my jacket] anytime I’m cold. It’s like my go-to outer layer.” Ross, who voted for Johnson in the last election, doesn’t agree with many of Trump’s policies, though he does think it’s “refreshing to have a politician so efficient in keeping his promises.” Both Trump and Carhartt are, to Ross, effective. A few states over in Michigan, Michael Montgomery echoes the same sentiment—at least about Carhartt. “It’s well-made stuff and it really really does wear well,” he says. “It’s for folks who need true work clothes.” Unlike Ross, Michael Montgomery works in an office, as a development and fundraising consultant. Growing up in Detroit, Montgomery can think of no brand that better represents his adolescence than Carhartt. Now a father of three, he finds himself wearing the brand to work on casual days. Like him, his kids grew up wearing Carhartt, and two still do. Montgomery went from buying the brand at the local hardware store to online, but his loyalty remains. One white collar, one blue collar. But to the folks at Carhartt, Michael and Ross couldn’t be more alike. Read more at Esquire.