Workwear: Function or Fashion?
Two runway looks from the collaboration between Japanese designer sacai and CarharttWIP for sacai man 2023 Autumn & Winter Collection and sacai 2023 Autumn Collection. Available via sacai.jp. ©All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
So, is workwear about function or fashion? Both. Sometimes. Workwear’s presence in mainstream fashion wouldn’t strike anyone as a new phenomenon, but its integration into high-end and resale fashion warrants a newer conversation. As it continues its popularity, it’s worth exploring what people's motivations are behind wearing the style and how intention should play a role in engagement.
The brands and items considered workwear have become somewhat blurred by their widespread adoption, but what is conveyed—durability and practicality—remains. Some of the OG workwear brands include Carhartt, Dickies, and Wrangler. Originally created with safety and longevity in mind for American blue-collar workers on the job, these brands are now mainstays in style guides and wardrobes ranging from the intended demographic up to celebrities like the Biebers and A$AP Rocky. This range bridges gaps that we rarely see in other style categories. A range like this, blue-collar to streetwear to celebrities, opens an equally varied set of intentions behind wearing workwear. Difficult to quantify, yet interesting to speculate, what are the driving forces behind workwear’s appeal?
The more tangible characteristics of workwear items speak for themselves; they are long-lasting and protective against the elements. One of the most significant intangible factors is an attraction to the authenticity and history of a brand. To use a brand like Carhartt for example, their designs have remained mostly unchanged while their audiences have expanded far beyond their origin. This manifests in a timelessness and authenticity that consumers are drawn to, whether or not they are blue-collar workers.
Despite the search for authenticity, the converse can occur in the resale world, whether or not participants see it this way. Platforms like Depop and eBay contribute to the workwear boom, as used clothing from brands like Carhartt and Dickies can sell for higher than their retail value, thanks to the previous owner’s usage. Using words like ‘distressed’ and ‘thrashed,’ sellers appeal to buyers' motivation to “look the part.”
Wanting to look the part without putting in the work or wear (no pun) to achieve the style is inherently inauthentic and veers into the morally gray area that this phenomenon frequently finds itself in. This grayness has to do with approaching the workwear style in a mocking or parodied way; paying above retail for workwear items that have holes/tears/stains can be an imitative method and one that calls a consumer’s intentions into question. The same is often said about popular pre-distressed items like Golden Goose sneakers and Acne Studios' mud-wash denim. There is an element of something like caricature in paying more for items that look like what clothes would look like through actual work and wear.
This method of engagement in the workwear trend puts the focus on aesthetic over function. This focus doesn’t have to be inherently negative, however. If that is how a consumer wants to engage with workwear styles, it could better take place in a different context. To again reference Carhartt, what they have done throughout their history is a brilliant example of creating this context via brand adaptation, as they have responded to the earlier mentioned widened range of workwear consumers.
It wasn’t until about a century after Carhartt’s 1889 inception that their styles meant for railroad workers began creeping into streetwear via early 1990s rappers, graffiti artists, and other urban subcultures. The ruggedness and history exemplified by the brand aligned with and attracted these groups, and workwear ventured more and more into the fashion mainstream. In response came the European version of Carhartt, Carhartt WIP, which was a partnership between Edwin Faeh and the domestic U.S.A. brand.
The all-American background merged with its European iteration shows a flexibility that mirrors an unexpected consumer base. Rather than irrevocably aligning themselves with new groups instead of the initial ones, Carhartt WIP builds upon the fundamental brand elements of Carhartt and places them in a more fashion-focused world. This puts their workwear in a new context, one that was already developing via subcultural popularity.
Workwear went from being adjacent to streetwear to operating as its own category within. Carhartt WIP has had collaborations with high-profile brands like Sacai, Patta, and A.P.C, just to name a few. These collaborations have contributed to the brand’s visibility, while not detracting too much from the parent brand’s identity. In mainline Carhartt’s case, this is one of the reasons it has not alienated its original customer base: the fact that it has maintained design and identity through the original brand while Carhartt WIP has prioritized expansion in other avenues. This exhibits the sort of intention that consumers should consider when it comes to whether they are choosing the style for function or fashion.
Idealistic thinking would be that the fashion choice camp would participate in ways that still honor these brands’ intentions of providing clothing that is comfortable and meant to last, rather than in a way that verges on a sort of ‘cosplay.’ Done well, embracing workwear could emphasize values that are not always prioritized in the current fashion landscape. Plagued by fast fashion and a whiplash-inducing trend cycle, it seems people are not holding on to their clothes for more than a season.
Workwear’s origin and nature will lend to its tenure in mainstream fashion in a way that other styles could not claim. Whether or not the style slips out of its current popularity would likely bear no impact on demand from those for whom it has always been intended. For the mainstream, a lot can be learned from the enduring essence of true workwear. Well-intentioned use could redirect attention toward what its range of wearers has come to know and love: an authentic, useful, and cool style.
