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Workwear - built to last, men are workin' it
San Francisco Chronicle / sfgate.com ^ | Sunday, January 17, 2010 | Beth Hughes, Special to The Chronicle

Posted on 01/17/2010 3:45:15 PM PST by thecodont

Workwear is the clothing worn by almost mythical American figures - cowboys, miners, farmers and railroad engineers.

Right now it's trending chic. Big-name international designers are collaborating with so-called U.S. heritage brands warmed back to life by fashion's bright lights. This matters not at all to many men, from high school students to octogenarians, who've always worn this stuff because it keeps them warm, it keeps them dry and it lasts close to forever.

If it seems a bit jarring that workwear is enjoying a moment when unemployment is high, job creation low and the median household income falling nationwide ($50,303 in 2008, down from $52,163 in 2007), ask yourself this: Since when has fashion been about reality?

Fashion, says Claire Watson, an independent vintage curator in New York, "is about picking up on the zeitgeist. It's a response to the situation."

"When the economy is bad, you want a look that's associated with employment, no matter what the employment is," says Mark-Evan Blackman, chairman of the menswear design department at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). "Workwear is coming at a time when the country is saying, 'Let's get back to work' at a very primal level."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/17/LVNM1BDCUH.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0curLMHb7

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: clothing; economy; employment; mensclothing; mensfashion; metrosexual; workwear
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"Joe Pittaya of San Francisco in Urban Outfitters hat and Levi's jacket."

Sounds like the clothes of plumbers, truckers ... yeah?

1 posted on 01/17/2010 3:45:17 PM PST by thecodont
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To: thecodont; nickcarraway; ShadowAce; Ernest_at_the_Beach
Workwear is the clothing worn by almost mythical American figures - cowboys, miners, farmers and railroad engineers.

Hey now. I'm still rockin' this corduroy jacket and stylin' shoes.

2 posted on 01/17/2010 3:50:32 PM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: thecodont

Hahaha, I’ve worn Carharts for my entire working life,
to the point that I no longer have hair on the outside of
my legs, it’s all been worn off by the canvas.

Happiness is new Carharts,new FiveBrother logger shirts, new steeltoe Redwings, and a Filson double Mackinaw wool coat.


3 posted on 01/17/2010 3:52:32 PM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: thecodont

Democrats are being exposed like never before for the murdering maniacs they really are. SO - like the herds of groupthinking sheeple that Leftists and liberals also really are, they are seeking camoflauge. THEREFORE - dress like the enemy. Embrace the enemy. Understand the enemy. And ultimately... run on the enemy’s platform, sway the independents back to the Democrat fold, win the elections, and then impose collectivist revenge murder on the enemy... in the name of peace, love and hope of course.


4 posted on 01/17/2010 3:52:51 PM PST by Talisker (When you find a turtle on top of a fence post, you can be damn sure it didn't get there on it's own.)
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To: thecodont

It’s all about DRESSING DOWN for LOW PAYING JOBS.


5 posted on 01/17/2010 3:55:23 PM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: tet68

Don’t forget your headgear!


6 posted on 01/17/2010 4:00:16 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: nmh

When they start profilinlg your coveralls in the SF Chronicle it’s a real bad sign.


7 posted on 01/17/2010 4:01:59 PM PST by circlecity
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To: tet68

I bought my Carhartt coveralls off the back of the truck that came into the sawmill I worked at better than 10 years ago. I still wear them whenever I need to get down on the ground in spring winter and fall.


8 posted on 01/17/2010 4:02:42 PM PST by cripplecreek (Seniors, the new shovel ready project under socialized medicine.)
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To: Gondring

MSA hard hat or filson tin cap.
Retired now so not standing in front of
a 2000degree furnace every day, sure
miss seeing that hot metal though.


9 posted on 01/17/2010 4:04:18 PM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: thecodont

“Workwear is the clothing worn by almost mythical American figures - cowboys, miners, farmers and railroad engineers.”

San Francisco newspaper? Sounds like more pro Village People leftist propaganda.


10 posted on 01/17/2010 4:04:50 PM PST by Frantzie (TV - sending Americans towards Islamic serfdom - Cancel TV service NOW)
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To: cripplecreek

I hope they are just stage setting for a working class President from the West..where this stuff is more normal wear. Maybe AK.


11 posted on 01/17/2010 4:05:14 PM PST by Oldexpat
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To: thecodont

Clothes don’t make the man you bunch of Nancy boys.


12 posted on 01/17/2010 4:05:24 PM PST by TheZMan (Just secede and get it over with. No love lost on either side. Cya.)
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To: tet68

Mesmerizing, to me.


13 posted on 01/17/2010 4:05:38 PM PST by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
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To: circlecity
“When they start profiling your coveralls in the SF Chronicle it’s a real bad sign.”

Think about what KIND of JOBS that find that attire acceptable. It's LOW END JOBS. Higher paying jobs are going away or their is a huge reluctance to higher folks because of health care. taxes and OBAMA.

14 posted on 01/17/2010 4:06:13 PM PST by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: thecodont
Fashion advice for males from San Francisco. Perfect.

Some of these guys were ahead of the times, I guess:


15 posted on 01/17/2010 4:06:40 PM PST by southernnorthcarolina (Now with ConstructionCam! Click on my name and follow the progress.)
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To: thecodont

LOVE a man in work wear... and scrubs! :)


16 posted on 01/17/2010 4:06:54 PM PST by Reddy (B.O. stinks)
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To: Reddy

If my lawyer shows up to Court in Dickeys I’m walking.


17 posted on 01/17/2010 4:09:28 PM PST by circlecity
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To: Gondring

I’ve loved the smell of a coal forge ever since
Alex Bealer took me down into his basement and built
a fire to show me how.
I was hooked from then on. I think some sights and smells
trigger a collective memory in mankind, one gained by
experiences over the ages.


18 posted on 01/17/2010 4:13:05 PM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: Oldexpat; cripplecreek
I hope they are just stage setting for a working class President from the West..where this stuff is more normal wear. Maybe AK.

I think you have something there.

I've seen little signs, here and there, of products referring to the outdoors, ruggedness, and specifically, the state of Alaska.

Safeway (grocery store chain here in the West) has in the past year (I estimate) started carried an "Alaska Classics" line of their house brand of ice cream.

(This reminds me of back in the 1990s when the Safeway store carried a "President's Choice" line of premium items (cookies, etc.) which is today marketed under the "Safeway Select" brand name. At the time the "President's Choice" products carried a signature which looked very similar to that of President Bill Clinton, though Safeway insisted the "President" referred to in their brand name was their company president.)

I think we should set up a ping list or a thread about similar "stage setting" items.

19 posted on 01/17/2010 4:13:37 PM PST by thecodont
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To: Reddy

Yuch. I am a female physician and HATE men in scrubs. I find most physicians nauseating having been around them my entire life. Now a man in Carharts well that is another thing. No man with manacured softness for me. I want a real man. One who can do most anything. Like use a chainsaw withoug injury, change oil, put in plugs, rebuld the dang motor if he needs to, build a pole barn, kill the meat for supper, make his own beer and grow his own smoke, and well you can guess the rest.


20 posted on 01/17/2010 4:14:34 PM PST by therut
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