What do carpenters and laborers wear in other countries?
In the US, the usual standard is carpenter pants. Usually made of cotton denim or duck/drill fabric, loose fit, and extra pockets on the legs in tall skinny shapes (unlike the large squarish pockets on cargo pants) for holding tools. Carhartt and Dickies are probably the two dominant brands, but there are lots of other makers, some more focused on looks rather than durability.
From what I’ve seen on TV, workers in other countries don’t seem to wear US-style carpenter pants too often. I’ve seen pants that look almost color-blocked patchwork - guessing there’s some “function over fashion” use of stronger fabric at wear points? Are these known as carpenter pants or something else? And what are the main brands in different countries?
Japanese carpenters have worn Tobi trousers, very wide and baggy until below the calf where they narrow down to fit into the footwear, jika-tabi boots (soft uppers, separated big toe). I don’t know how common these are, but I have seen them. Apparently a big brand name for these trousers is Toraichi.
These aren’t exactly traditional as you might think, having arisen since WWII apparently (according to the article). I don’t know what purpose is served by the bagginess.
In India, male construction workers typically wear either pants, shorts, or a traditional knee-length wrap garment (lungi). Above the waist might be a T-shirt or button-down shirt or nothing at all.
Most female construction workers wear sari or related kinds of traditional Indian female dress, generally wrapped and hitched up to provide greater security and freedom of movement.
A [url="Brick by Brick, These Women Masons Are Building A Reputation - The Better India"long-sleeved button-down workshirt over the top of the outfit seems to be frequently worn by both genders except in excessive heat. Bare feet and flipflops or other sandals are common, contrary to western expectations of heavy-duty protective footgear on construction sites.
In the UK there seems to be a trend away from overalls or denim bib overalls toward something close to the US style.
We tend to have a bunch of names, from cargo pants through to site trousers or tradesmens trousers. Seems we also use more patches of hard wearing material for things like kneeling protection, and often these patches are a darker colour, can’t seen any reason why the different colour is needed.
Here is something typical and widely copied - these are on the high cost side of trades trousers, company provided clothing usually comes in around £20
‘Trend’ being the operative word. The builders I know are pretty style conscious even if they’d never admit it, and choose their cargo trouser brands and boots carefully. They tend towards dark colours, unlike the OP.
Dickies and Dewalt are two brands that spring to mind.
The usual standard for just about everybody I’ve seen and/or worked with is standard denim blue jeans. Very seldom have I noticed the extra pockets you describe. They may have a heavier weight to them but rarely anything else special. As a tradesman I might have acquired one pair every 5 years or so that has a hammer loop but for extra pockets I go with aprons or pouches. Carhartt and Dickies do sell enough to make a go of it but it isn’t to the people I’ve dealt with.
So Chicago-ish sticks with plain jeans? Carhartt is huge in California, or at least around the SF Bay Area, (Not just with the trades, but the general population - I have a friend who’s an attorney. His DIY skills seem to end at hanging pictures on the wall, and he wears Carhartt pretty often) and not exactly rare in New England. (They seem to be a sponsor for This Old House.) Up in Canada, Mike Holmes and crew wore a lot of Carhartt until Mike developed his own line of workwear that I’ve never seen anywhere except on his TV shows.
So do the UK guys wear tool belts over all that, or are the outside pockets meant to substitute for the standard US-style tool belt?
Not that I see a lot of contractors/construction guys, but blue jeans seems to be the common pant style. I’ve always associated Dickies with work uniforms, and Carhartt stuff with farming/ranching/agricultural workers myself.
“You know what they call us? Dockers. Because we work on the loading dock. You know what the ironic part is? They actually wear Dockers. We wear Dickies. Which by the way is what we call them. In a perfect world, we’d switch pants, but Dockers doesn’t make overalls.”
I used to love Carhartt tees back when they were made from more durable cotton fabric and they actually fit. I wore them as a work shirt for years after I got out of the military. Their quality control has gone to shit in recent years, with fabric that doesn’t wear well, and poor fit in the neck and shoulders. I have a couple of newer ones that I can wear without feeling like I’m being choked, but the rest went to Goodwill.
When I was framing back in the 90s I wore usually Dickies jeans, Dickies chinos, Levis 501s or 550s,sometimes BDU pants. That was in the US, Salt Lake City area. Most of my co-workers wore the same.
Uh… to answer the OP, I never wore anything but basic blue jeans.
Framers or ‘Carpenters’ don’t worry much about their pants other than to be a little protected depending on weather conditions. Decent boots are important.
A framer will wear a rig. A tool belt often with suspenders. You’re going to be carrying a lot of weight in… shit, just about everything depending on the task at hand. I used to carry a 16oz straight claw hammer, and a 28oz rigging axe. The axe gives you reach, and can drive a 16p in three blows if you’re good. A nice Vaughn like this The long handle will save your ass when you build walls. Don’t have to lean over as far. Walls are put together on the deck before they are stood up (well that’s the plan anyway).
The 16oz can be used in conjunction. Mostly to move shit around and get things straight… the delicate work.
Drop in nails in your rig, depending on the job, square, tape measure and assorted shit and you have a bit of weight.
Of course now-a-days, most is done with air… um pneumatic nail guns, which would be a different subject.
