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Cult workwear brand Carhartt to build first San Antonio company store
Carhartt is now equally coveted as workwear and streetwear.
As blue-collar workwear continues to evolve from a utilitarian necessity to a chic wardrobe staple, Michigan-based Carhartt is expanding with its first San Antonio company store. The heritage brand intends to build a new shop, only the third in Texas, in the Alamo Quarry Market, at 7322 Jones Maltsberger Rd. #112, state records show.
Founded by Hamilton Carhartt in 1889, Carhartt is one of the nation’s oldest workwear brands. Its cotton duck canvas jackets and carpenter pants are worn by everyone from telephone lineworkers to Hollywood celebrities. Its signature color, Hamilton brown, has become as instantly recognizable as Burberry plaid or Gucci’s interlocking Gs.
The brand was seldom worn outside a functional role until the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when skater and hip-hop cultures began adopting Carhartt’s iconic Detroit jacket and chore coat. Swiss fashion designers Edwin and Salomée Faeh tapped into the zeitgeist, striking a deal with the company to form Carhartt Work in Progress (WIP), merging utility with style.
The new label firmly established workwear as streetwear. WIP has collaborated with hypebeast obsessions like Vetements and Junya Watanabe Comme de Garçons. Now, once-workaday brands like Timberland, Dickies, and Red Wing are stocked at middle-market department stores and high-end boutiques.
If the Fort Worth and Tyler stores are any indication, Carhartt isn’t targeting the designer customer for its upcoming San Antonio location. Store photos show rows of insulated jackets, neatly folded flannel shirts, and accessories like backpacks and totes in Hamilton brown.
That’s not to say Carhartt’s mainline offerings aren’t accidentally on trend. The brand’s relaxed fit denim work shorts aren’t dissimilar to the jorts Matthew Williams recently showed for Givenchy menswear, and the women’s bomber jacket — bought two sizes too large — would look darling with a crop top and flared jeans.
According to Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation records, San Antonio locals have a few months to consider fits. The $450,000 buildout is expected to finish in mid-September, pointing to a probable fall debut.
The hoodie sports Burlebo's signature deer camo print.Photo courtesy of Burlebo.
The button-up has a Western theme.Photo courtesy of Burlebo.