It's Always Been There

got some T-shirts that are from the early
eighties, and I’ve got a 1990 Ice Camo
jacket, which is a rare piece of Stoney. I’ve
got a rare lifesaver jacket as well. Some of
it I found out buying, some of it I bought
online. I do know a lot of collectors though.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH CARHARTT WIP AND
THE CULTURE AROUND IT?
MILO I used to go to the Carhartt shop on
Neal Street in Covent Garden when I was a
kid. My old man used to wear Carhartt and
Biggie, Wu-Tang, always rocking Carhartt.
The pieces that stood out for me were the
workwear vests and the beanie hats. The
simple branding stood out. While a lot
of other brands like Polo were going mad
about graphics, Carhartt just kept it real
with good fitting, durable pieces with a
little patch on them. That was enough. You
could see a piece of Carhartt coming a
mile off, from the cut and how it dropped,
and that has obviously evolved through
Work In Progress. During my first visit to
New York, I went to a workwear shop called
Dave’s and couldn’t believe how cheap the
Carhartt was. I was picking up hats for six
or seven pounds and ended up buying loads
of colours and a few vests. Then there was
the film La Haine, which for me is deeply
rooted in hip hop culture. It’s an iconic
film. Seeing them rocking Carhartt opened
my eyes a bit. So, yeah, that film and
nineties hip hop really opened my eyes to
Carhartt.
WHY DO YOU THINK WE’RE SEEING THIS HYPE CULTURE AROUND
STREETWEAR NOW?
SANDEEP People want what other people wear,
and if people can’t access that, then it
becomes more desirable. There is always
going to be someone who will pay more for
something, and that will push the price up.
I used to steal his jackets sometimes.
I loved Carhartt jeans. I used to skate
when I was a teenager. That’s when I
first started wearing it, at around the
age of twelve or thirteen. It’s like the
backbone. All these other hype brands are
built around a pair of jeans, which is
cool. Carhartt is cool because, like Ralph
Lauren, you can have kids wearing it, and
grandparents wearing it. It’s not specific
to a certain age bracket.
SANDEEP For me, it was seeing people like
MILO People care about how much stuff
costs. They always want to know, is this
rare? That’s a question I’m always asked in
the shop. Sometimes they don’t care about
the brand, they just want to have a rare
one-off piece. For me personally, if you
want to have a one-off piece, it should be
something that you love. It doesn’t matter
what other people are wearing or what
other people are into. It’s each to their
own. It’s like people who throw around the
term ‘grail’. For me, a grail is not what
everyone else wants, it’s what you want
personally. Most of my grail pieces people
haven’t even heard of.
79 / DUKES CUPBOARD