UTMC

So I've been doing some construction type stuff lately, and needed to get some workin' man's pants so I wouldn't destroy my one and only pair of jeans while I was at it.
I've been keeping an eye on the horizon for a replacement brand to Carhartts ever since their fabric mill shut down, and they sent their production overseas. Since then, there has been a marked decrease in the quality and longevity of their pants. Enter Blaklader. As far as I can tell, the word is pronounced "Black Ladder," so I'm sticking with it.

Thus far, these are the single best work pants I've ever worn, with the caveat that they DO NOT stand up to welding AT ALL. Other than that, they are tough, and extremely well thought out. I bought a $13 pair of foam knee pads to stick in em, and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
I got their "Heavy Worker" pant, which is one step down from these, but this will give you a solid idea about what these folks have to offer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44UW-FZkGD8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The mudflap front pockets are interesting.

I apologize for the threadjack, but:
I love workwear, it's sturdy, ergonomic, practical and often surprisingly cheap, even when made in Western Europe.
I also love pants, I wear them almost every day, and another pair at night.
But the incredible joy and delight that had overcome me when I had seen the title of this thread, it evaporated. No amount of well-made, practical pants could compete with what I was expecting due to overlooking a single letter.



Just out of curiosity, maybe I didn't notice this, but where are they made? Over here, a lot of officially sanctioned and safety approved work-wear comes from Italy (like my 20 buck boots that just refuse to fall apart), the higher-priced stuff is often made domestically, incredible as that may seem. Over on your side, it's not all imported from the China, is it?

Didn't know that about Carhart moving production, but I guess I don't consider global economics a big deal. That being said, my one Carhart jacket is almost 20 years old, nice and faded and will probably last me another twenty so I should be set. In terms of pants, I've found over the years that denim is durable enough for construction work, and cheap enough to replace when it rips.

DerGolgo wrote:Over on your side, it's not all imported from the China, is it?

American manufacturing tends to have great product and crap distribution and marketing.
I know of Pointer Brand off the top off my head, and of course Prison Blues. Both are less technical, more traditional authentic. The last pair of jeans I bought, over five years ago, was from Diamond Gusset and the coat I bought from Arborwear in hopes of American-made goodness turned out to be mediocrity from a Chinese sweatshop.

Just for you:

http://www.madeinusa.org/nav.cgi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ON edit: Sometime in the mid-90's, Carhartt not only changed their cut, but they also changed the weave in their fabric, making it basically less dense by reducing the weft count. This in turn made it a flimsier fabric, though the price remained the same.
They're still trading on their reputation of being working clothes, but it's become trendy to pretend you actually work for a living and they know it. IF you want cheap working clothes you can replace easily without the expense of Carhartts, buy a pair of Dickies. Before they too become trendy. I used to go through a pair of Carhartts easily in less than a year, but I'd patch them until there was nothing left to patch to.

The problem with "Made in the USA" is that really it means "Made in any US protectorate/territory." So it could be made in Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, Samoa, and a few other tiny places around the globe where you can work people for cheap. There are other things about the label that I'm not going to go into right now without more research. It's all been discussed here before anyway.

All that being said, mainly I switched away from Carhartts because they just don't last like they used to. Mine turn threadbare around the ass and the pockets in pretty short order. Jeans are fine if you don't crawl around on the floor a lot. Once you start doing that, they wear out pretty quickly in my experience. I'll still probably get some carhartts for welding and metal work, since they don't fray too much around slag holes and such, and since these blaklader pants burn through if you look at them funny. Actually, I'll probably just patch the ones I have at home in California, but those weren't available to me in Toronto.

WeAintFoundShit wrote:The problem with "Made in the USA" is that really it means "Made in any US protectorate/territory." So it could be made in Puerto Rico, Guam, Saipan, Samoa, and a few other tiny places around the globe where you can work people for cheap.

This is surely a vast minority of US made products. The bigger issue is "final assembly of foreign-made parts", like seems to be the case with my Stormy Kromer cap. To stay on topic, anyone working in a cold garage would appreciate pulling the wool over their ears with one of their caps (Allen Edmonds has them on sale).

Heard these were okay, too:
http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/prod ... d_products" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've never owned a pair, though.

WeAintFoundShit wrote: All that being said, mainly I switched away from Carhartts because they just don't last like they used to. Mine turn threadbare around the ass and the pockets in pretty short order. Jeans are fine if you don't crawl around on the floor a lot. Once you start doing that, they wear out pretty quickly in my experience. I'll still probably get some carhartts for welding and metal work, since they don't fray too much around slag holes and such, and since these blaklader pants burn through if you look at them funny. Actually, I'll probably just patch the ones I have at home in California, but those weren't available to me in Toronto.

Granted most of my work is either kneeling or climbing, I don't crawl around on the floor much. In fact, having been in construction for nearly two decades I am stumped trying to figure out what trade crawls on the floor alot AND welds. Most iron workers I know would punch me in the face if I told them they couldn't work between waist and shoulder height unless of course they are working on a raising gang.
That being said, once a year I buy six pairs of wranglers for about $15 each and wear them out and replace them the next year. My wife has been trying to get me into nicer $40-$60/pair jeans for years and I wear them out at the same rate and go back to the cheap-o's. No sense wasting the money for the same results. I have never tried Carhart's jeans, but as I said I have nothing but good to say about the jacket I have.

I, being the sort of person to do all manners of stupid shit with tools and expensive materials, in both paid for and out of pocket pursuits, find myself crawling, rolling around, shimmying, welding, running machinery, machining things, and playing with tools at haphazard intervals, and wanted some pants that could handle it all.
Just did a custom window retrofit in an industrial space remodel that both welding and working in the blowjob position. That is how I learned that these pants don't deal with sparks at all.
That being said, I'm not really saying that the combo has to be present at all times, I just wanted to point out that these things melt right through in the event of a hot piece of slag, and that they aren't quite a universal tool.

And I am on the opposite side of the coin from you in pants buying tactics. I used to buy one pair of carhartts for about $50 that would last me about two years. Not so much anymore. These new pants are waaaay expensive at $100, so if they don't last two years at least, I won't buy 'em again.

Huh $100? The Carhartt double knee jeans I use are only $42 each at the local army navy surplus. Occasionally I can get irregulars for less. While working I'd say that 70% of the time I'm either on a ladder or on my knees. A normal denim jean just doesn't cut it for any length of time, the only people on the job with just jeans I see are usually formen types .....

And I have to have knee pads in the double knee, I'd likely be unable to walk at this point without them. Usually I get a couple of years out of rotating 2 or 3 pairs unless I catch a particularly bad edge and cause a tear. I've tried using a cut up rolled foam sleeping pad so it's not so expensive, but that flattened out too much too quick. Now I've got the pre cut ones combined with the sleeping foam and it's better than most knee pads and always there when you need it.

I've heard of the Duluth trading post stuff, but hear that it's too heavy for daily wear.

I've also heard that some of the Carhartt production is still USA..... not sure though. Just heard they're in Costco so I'm sure that stuff isn't.

Of course I'm game to try other stuff that's suppose to compete