Did Carhartt lose its focus on high quality work clothes and as a result go downhill? One shopper thinks so.
TikTok user Tom (@sidemoneytom) posted a video from the Carhartt section of a clothing store. He’s replying to a comment from a user that says, “I lost faith in Carhartt as a tradesman a while back.”
In October, Tom called attention to the quality of Carhartt’s shoes, sparking discussion among users. In his second video, Tom addresses whether the brand can still be considered the standard in worker wear, and, if not, why.
Has Carhartt’s quality gone downhill?
Tom says he agrees with the commenter who’s grown disappointed in Carhartt as a workwear brand.
“I too have lost faith in Carhartt, unfortunately,” he says. “Being somebody who works in manual labor, they were always my go-to for work pants and jackets. But it seems like now they’ve completely lost focus as a really high quality workwear, where all they care about is branding with giant logos.”
He continues, “Instead of making the highest quality jackets and workwear imaginable, now they’re making sweatpants that you can lounge and watch TV in at home. Or how about these men’s fuzzy jackets? This is something you could only wear to work if you worked in the office.”
Tom then points to a display of women’s athleisure and toddler’s onesies.
“Carhartt used to be the only pants that would last me more than one year at work,” he says. “Nowadays, they last me like two or three months. So the quality, I guess, has gone straight to [expletive] just like everything else.”
Where is Tom shopping these days?
If he isn’t happy with Carhartt, what brand is Tom sporting to work these days?
“So instead, now I just buy $20 pants at Costco,” he says. “They wear out just about as fast as Carhartt, so why not? I’m not gonna pay the premium price just to have the Carhartt logo on everything. What do you guys think?”
The video has amassed more than 1.2 million views. In the comments, users shared their frustration with Carhartt and offered their own workwear alternatives.
“Carhartt got popular in streetwear and forgot what type of people they used to make workwear for,” wrote one user.
“Duluth Trading Co seems to be the new Carhartt,” said another.
A third wrote, “All my crew is wearing Dakota now. Half the price.”
Others mentioned Wrangler, Dickies, Ariat, and Tough Duck. However, at least one disagreed with Tom. “I still wear Carhartt,” they wrote. “They fit and feel the best for me. I’ve tried other ‘workwear’ and it’s not as comfy. Or it fits weird.”
Did Carhartt shift its focus to streetwear?
Carhartt established in 1889 as a workwear brand. More recently, it did indeed shift some of its focus toward the streetwear sector. In the 1990s, it established a streetwear division and began to blend elements of both of those styles into its products, which is a shift, as Tom points out, that is still very much ongoing to this day.
And Tom isn’t the only one with this criticism.
A user posted to the BushcraftUSA forum in 2023 about where they might get “hard work clothing now that Carhartt is getting cushy?” There weren’t many Carhartt defenders on that thread, either. One replied, “I only used to wear Carhartt double knee carpenter pants. They got expensive and aren’t built the same as they used to be.”
@sidemoneytom Replying to @bigduckadventure #fyp #carhartt #work #foryou ♬ original sound – SideMoneyTom
The Daily Dot reached out to Tom via TikTok comment and direct message for comment. We also contacted Carhartt via website contact form for comment.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
