The Carhartt Double-Knee: A Short History

The Carhartt double-knee is a heavy duck canvas work pant with a second layer of fabric sewn over the front of each leg. Carhartt says the design dates back to the 1930s and was made for laborers and farmers, and it has barely changed since.

A Detroit overall maker

Carhartt began in a Detroit loft in 1889, with a couple of sewing machines and a small electric motor. Its founder, Hamilton Carhartt, spent time with railroad workers before he made anything for them. What came out of that was a bib overall, and a motto the company still uses: "Honest value for an honest dollar."

That habit of asking the people who actually wear the stuff is pretty much the whole story of the double-knee.

The company grew fast. By 1910 it owned cotton mills in the South and ran sewing plants from Atlanta to San Francisco. Then the 1929 crash nearly ended it. By the company's own account, Hamilton and his sons only just kept it alive through the Depression.

The 1930s work pant

Hamilton died in 1937 and his son Wylie took over. Around the same time came the double-front duck work pant, the one sold today as the B01. Carhartt dates it to the 1930s; Gear Patrol puts it at 1939. The idea is simple. You sew a second layer of heavy fabric over the front of the leg, so the part that wears out first lasts as long as the rest. Carhartt describes it as something that came purely from function.

Heavy duck, a doubled front, a loose cut you can kneel and climb in. That's still the pant.

Off the job site

What changed is who wears them. Carhartt points to the 1970s, when big orders for crews building the Alaska Pipeline proved the gear in brutal conditions. Then in the 1980s and 1990s the brand moved off the job site, picked up by people outside the trades, well-known hip-hop artists among them.

Buying an old pair

• The label tells you a lot. Carhartt's heart logo changed over the years, and older pairs often carry a union label (see Union Made labels) or "Made in USA." Collectors date pairs from these, but the exact years for each version vary from source to source, so treat it as a decade, not a date.
• Look at the knees. The double layer is where the story is: fading, worn edges, sometimes a repair. That wear is the point.
• Measure, don't trust the tag. Old duck shrinks and relaxes in its own way. Waist and inseam measured flat beat the size on the label every time.

Archive Workwear sells vintage workwear, outdoor, ivy, military and true vintage from Denver, Colorado. See vintage Carhartt, or follow new finds on Instagram at @archiveworkwear.