Carhartt is a brand that is nowadays, ubiquitous. Originally designed for railroad workers, it now does not correlate with a person’s vocation at all, in fact, most people wearing the brand would go and look for a left-handed screwdriver if you asked them to.
In the not-so-distant past wearing clothing designed for manual labour for anything else would have seemed ridiculous, but as with everything, there’s always a group of early adopters that push the boat out and change that perception from ridiculous, to cool.
In the case of Carhartt, this transition would begin in the early ’90s, fronted by a catalysing group who spent their days not building railroads, but lyrics.
Renegade artists of the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry such as Eazy-E, Tupac & Dr Dre would quickly cement the workwear brand as the new uniform of hip-hop, often wearing the brand’s work jackets, carpenter pants, hats and gloves in music videos or to award shows. Needless to say, Carhartt spread like wildfire, and it’s one of the strongest cases that if cool people wear your clothes, they become cool.
To celebrate Carhartt’s longstanding entanglement with hip-hop and rap music in general, we’ve selected some of the brand’s most iconic items from our friends over at EQVVS.
Carhartt WIP Relaxed Fit Blake Coach Jacket
This is one of the best Carhartt products we’ve seen in a while, hence why it’s at the top of this list. That pocket. That contrast stitching. That collar. All so good. Don’t reckon it’d look out of place in the back of a Wu-Tang video either.
Carhartt WIP Relaxed Fit American Script Zip Through Hoodie
There are not many Carhartt products as iconic as their zip-up hoodies. They’ve been making them for years, people have been buying them for years, and they last for years.
Carhartt WIP Script Gloves
Having the name of a highly respected workwear brand across your knuckles is much more tasteful than those ‘LOVE HATE’ tattoos some people get.
Carhartt WIP OG Chore Coat
A favoured Carhartt item by lyricists of the era was their denim chore jacket. Don’t believe us? Here’s Eazy-E wearing one. Still not convinced? Here’s Tupac wearing one. Told you.
Carhartt WIP Lachlan Liner
We’re not sure who Lachlan is, but this is a nice liner jacket.
Carhartt WIP Acrylic Watch Hat
La Haine immortalized the Carhartt Watch Hat as one of the most important hats in headwear history. Everyone should own at least one.
Carhartt WIP Relaxed Fit American Script Zip Through Hoodie
If for whatever reason you don’t want the signature tan zip-up hoodie, we reckon the next best option is this grey-y colour. It’s actually called ‘Fleur De Sal’. Not sure what that means.
Carhartt WIP Hooded Chase Sweat
As we’re compiling this list, we’ve realised just how many quintessential Carhartt products there are, and up there with the best of them, is the Chase Hoodie. No-nonsense, heavyweight comfort with a nice embroidered logo on the arm.
Carhartt WIP Relaxed Fit Sweat
Closing out our list is this sweat, featuring a more contemporary Carhartt script. Here’s a great image of Jay One from Bad Boys crew wearing one.
