21 Best Workwear Brands Every Fella Should Know in 2024 - GQ

GQ Recommends

From the mass-market stalwarts to the small-batch upstarts, these are the rugged, hard-wearing labels every clothing buff should know.

By Mitch Moxley

July 3, 2024

Collage by Katarina Kovac

All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.

No category is more synonymous with classic American style than workwear, but there's nothing past-tense about the best workwear brands on the market. From Jeremy Allen White's daily strolls in various broken-in cottons to Daniel Day-Lewis's continued devotion to Carhartt, the genre is as reliable and flattering today as it's ever been before.

And while many of the names spotlighted below manufacture their products in the United States—L.C. King in Bristol, Tennessee; Stan Ray in Crockett, Texas; to name just two sterling examples—some of the raddest American-inspired workwear at the moment comes from Australia, Canada, Japan, and beyond.

So to help you find the chore jacket that'll last you a lifetime (or the carpenter pants your grandkids will fish out of your attic), GQ Recommends went deep on the category's biggest, brightest stars, from the century-old stalwarts to the upstart one-man operations. Their provenance may span multiple continents, and some might paint further outside of the lines than others, but what all of them share is a commitment to their craft. Expect high-quality construction, durable materials, and functionality galore.

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The Best Workwear Brands, According to GQ

• The Heritage Stalwarts: Carhartt, Dickies, RefrigiWear, Stan Ray, Ben Davis, L.C. King
• The Young Americans: Wallace & Barnes, Randy's Garments, Freenote Cloth
• The Indie Favorites: James Coward, Henry's, MAN-TLE, Rosa Rugosa
• The Regional Specialists: Nigel Cabourn, Post O'Alls, Arpenteur, Graziano and Gutierrez
• The Giants of Yesteryear: Big Mac, OshKosh B'gosh, Red Kap, Sears, Penney's

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The Heritage Stalwarts

In 1889, Hamilton "Ham" Carhartt began making bib overalls with a pair of sewing machines in his Detroit loft. That became a line of sturdy outfits for railroad workers, and soon the brand was expanding across the country and into Canada, hawking coveralls and jungle suits to soldiers during both World Wars—and a growing number of tough-wearing garments for factory workers in the decades that followed. Today, Carhartt is popular among creative director types and movie stars alike, but it's still favored by manual laborers across the nation who appreciate its comfort, durability, and style chops. Its legendary duck canvas jackets are virtually indestructible, warm as hell, and also look pretty great. Its beanies and five-panel hats make great accessories, and for what it's worth, the brand still makes those overalls, too.

Carhartt

Blanket-Lined Detroit Jacket

Carhartt

Knit Cuffed Beanie

Dickies is another workwear icon that started with a pair of overalls, this time in Texas back in 1922. It still makes those overalls today, but also work pants and work shirts, sturdy cargo shorts, heavyweight long-sleeve tees, and the excellent insulated Eisenhower jacket. A truly accessible-to-all brand thanks to its extensive sizing and affordable prices, Dickies embraces anyone who wishes to join the family, sponsoring its own skate team after skaters adopted its rugged 874 chinos in the '80s and '90s, and even starting a fresh conversation in recent years with the army of Gen-Zers who've now discovered its fairly-priced, rock-solid designs.

Dickies

Eisenhower Jacket

Dickies

874 Work Pants

RefrigiWear

It's all there in the name with RefrigiWear, the outfitter that grocery store workers rely on during their trips into the deep freeze. The brand has been making insanely warm, surprisingly affordable outerwear since the '50s, for everyone from Alaskan pipeline workers to obsessive hockey dads who spend too much time at the rink. It's also found a following among style obsessives in recent years, ever since releasing its now-coveted collaboration with Supreme.

RefrigiWear

Econo-Tuff Insulated Jacket

RefrigiWear

Iron-Tuff Polar Jacket

Back in 1972, Earl Beard started Stan Ray with a simple goal: to make clothes in the USA—beginning with painter and carpenter pants—that were durable and would last for years. Little has changed today: The company's now in the hands of the fourth generation of Beards, and those painter pants—relaxed fit, tough-as-nails, and still made in Texas—have barely changed in the time since. They can easily be found at boutiques the world over, but the brand also makes a selection of characteristically excellent shorts, work jackets, and totes.

Stan Ray

Coverall Jacket

Stan Ray

Big Job Shorts

Ben Davis's story begins with rivets. In the 1870s, Jacob Davis, a grandfather of the brand's founder, began adding those circular mechanical fasteners to his work pants, after a woman complained that her husband's trousers kept falling apart at the seams. The idea was so groundbreaking that Jacob went on to oversee production of riveted blue jeans for a little outfit out of San Francisco called Levi Strauss; in 1935, his grandson Ben decided to carry on his grandfather's legacy by launching his own label. Today, Ben Davis makes work shirts, jackets, coveralls, pants—including the wide-leg Gorilla Cut—in a feast of shades and sizes.

- September 23, 2024

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