Carhartt CEO says they always focused on blue-collar workers—but hipsters came anyway: ‘We welcome anyone … that wants to celebrate hard work’

In an era where fashion brands frequently pivot to chase the latest influencer trends, Carhartt remains an outlier by standing perfectly still. Despite the brand’s explosion in popularity among urban “hipsters” from Brooklyn to Berlin, CEO Linda Hubbard insists the company’s compass remains fixed on the job site.

“We’ve really been about the worker … we don’t try to be everything to everybody,” Hubbard told Fortune in a joint interview with Ford Philanthropy President Mary Culler, as the two Detroit-area brands join forces in a multi‑year partnership to power what Ford CEO Jim Farley calls “the essential economy.”

Farley estimated the essential worker shortage at more than 1 million factory, construction, and auto workers in June. “Today’s essential economy faces a critical crossroads,” Farley said in a statement to Fortune: “Stagnant productivity and an outdated belief that a four-year college degree is the only path to success. Given these 95 million j...