The Montana Collection is the latest from Carhartt. So what’s it all about?
Western Style Carhartt is Nothing New
It looks like every brand is leaning into the western look now, but Carhartt has been around the block a time or two. When a company has been around for more than a hundred years, they see cycles of style come and go.
In fact, I spoke to Carhartt’s archivist and historian Dave Moore about the new collection on a recent trip to Detroit. Interestingly, the Montana collection isn’t new. Last year Carhartt released some of their warmest jackets using the Montana name. The Montana jackets were ranked at the top of my Carhartt warmth rating list! So you have the heavyweight warm jackets, but this year they added a few pieces with Western flair pulling from their older lines
The Collection
The Montana Rugged Flex Jacket
This is one of the most interesting pieces from the collection, and it is also available in a vest.
The upper yoke is made from a contrasting colored duck canvas giving it a very cool look. But if you don’t want contrast, the black option is entirely solid.
This jacket is made from Carhartt’s Rugged Flex duck which is 99% cotton duck and 1% spandex.
The warmth on this guy is 2 out of 4, so it’s on par with most of Carhartt’s sherpa lined stuff.
Rugged Flex lightweight long sleeve shirt
These come in two colorways and feature Western details like the yoke and snaps.
The nice thing about these shirts is that they don’t give up any useful features for style. They’re cut like other Carhartt button-up shirts and have a pen slot in the left chest pocket. They also layer very nicely with a 4-ounce, 98% cotton / 2% elastane twill.
Denim Snap Shirt
Of course, no collection would be complete without a denim snap shirt and this is one is interesting.
Made from 7.75-ounce, 87% cotton / 13% polyester denim the shirt certainly looks the part, but a few things stand out to me. First is that fabric. If there isn’t a benefit like stretch, I wonder why Carhartt didn’t just use 100% cotton denim.
Secondly is the upper yoke which features slightly more rounded “points” as compared to the back. It doesn’t look bad, but the other pieces in the collection have sharper “points” and I wonder why that didn’t carry over to the denim.
Finally are those snaps. Maybe it’s the photos but Carhartt seems to have gone with a bright white rather than mother of pearl. Again, it’s all preference.
Montana Staples
Finally, we have some Carhartt staples with a few new tee shirts inspired by vintage Carhartt ads.
And an adjustable snap-back hat: to round out the collection.
Conclusion
The Montana collection isn’t as ground breaking as some Carhartt collections, but a nice addition to their lineup with a western flair. Personally I’d like to see a new version of their Ranch Coat with the sherpa lining!
Join the Discussion