Carhartt WIP
Founded 1889 the parent house; 1994 the WIP line · Detroit, United States; WIP based in Europe · Hamilton Carhartt; WIP, Edwin Faeh
Carhartt has been dressing railwaymen and builders in Detroit since 1889. **Carhartt WIP — Work In Progress — is something else**: a European line that has licensed the archive since 1994 and cuts it for the street. They share patterns and do not share a company, and it is worth knowing before comparing prices.
History
Hamilton Carhartt opened in Detroit in 1889 with two sewing machines and five employees, and grew large dressing railway workers: denim overalls and waxed duck canvas. The house is still family-owned and American. In 1994 the Swiss businessman Edwin Faeh obtained the European licence and founded Carhartt Work In Progress, based in Germany: it takes the patterns from the archive — the Detroit jacket, the Double Knee trouser — and adjusts them to European streetwear taste. WIP has its own design, its own collaborations and its own shops. That both exist at once is the cause of almost all the confusion over price and sizing around the name.
Iconic models
Detroit Jacket
Duck canvas with a blanket lining and a corduroy collar. The garment that defines the house.
Double Knee Pant
A double layer at the knee, for those who work kneeling. Today it is worn for the silhouette.
Chore Coat
The three-pocket work coat, from the original archive.
Watch Hat (beanie)
The knitted hat with the square label; WIP's best-selling product.
Worth knowing
Carhartt's duck canvas takes its name from the Dutch *doek*, cloth. It has nothing to do with the bird, and it is the material the house has worked in for a hundred and thirty-five years.