Fashions come and go and brands hit the big time only to fall out of favour. Every season we are treated to a new colour palette and orange is the new black or some such nonsense.  Designers dictate what we will all be dying to wear or celebrities start new trends when they are pictured in something new, even if it is ridiculous. However, our most enduring brands and styles, the ones that never seem to go out of fashion, have largely been clothes that began life as workwear.  This does rather suggest that ultimately, practicality trumps all.

Levi’s

Take Levi’s for instance. Levi’s are probably the most enduring fashion statement of them all.  They were the first denim jeans and they are still going strong but they started life as canvas overalls for railway workers in America. The styles proved so popular that people starting wearing them for other kinds of work and as casual pants. Then Levi Strauss experimented with a different fabric called serge de nimes. This indigo cotton proved to be even more popular and denim jeans were born.

Wrangler

Wrangler, another iconic jeans label, has its roots in rodeo and cowboy country. Their story began when C.C. Hudson began his working life sewing buttons. Eventually his workplace closed down and he and some of his colleagues bought the sewing machines from the workshop. The Hudson Overall Company was a success and then became the Blue Bell Overall Company before moving on to purchase the Casey Jones Company which produced western jeans. It also owned the rights to a little used brand – Wrangler. A tailor known as Rodeo Ben designed authentic western jeans for the label and Wrangler had arrived, never to look back. The 11MWZ, their first style, are still in production today.

Barbour

John Barbour started out by making oilskins for fisherman in the Northeast and moved on to produce waxed cotton clothing for farmers. In 1936 his company produced it first waxed cotton biker jacket and that iconic design is still a firm favourite today. Indeed it has been so successful that the Barbour name has become synonymous with the style. Waxed cotton jackets tend to be called Barbour’s whether they are or not!

Dr Martens

The cushioned sole of Dr Martens was invented by German duo Dr Märtens and Dr Franck to help Märtens’ injured foot. The soles were incorporated into a new style of work boot. Eventually the German’s sold their idea to the Griggs family of Northampton who launched the boots in the UK with the anglicised version of the name. Dr Martens remained merely work boots until Pete Townsend of rock band The Who wore them on stage and they became fashionable footwear and the favourites of succeeding youth cultures.

We may all be looking for the next big thing on the catwalks but in the end it is workwear which seems to stand the course when it makes the transition into the world of fashion. It is the durable, practical clothing of the workplace that has transcended the generations.

Article by Sally Stacey