Friday, January 13, 2012
Style Domestic Workwear officially enters the fashion scene
Posted by Heather Kenny on 01.13.12 at 04:00 PM
- Domestic Workwear
Evans was working as a mover, often handling events for fashion companies like Beta Boutique and Style Chicago, and got to know local designers and others in the fashion scene. He noticed that the inexpensive clothes he wore weren’t up to the demands of his job: “I was busting through a lot of cheap work pants.” Realizing they were all made cheaply overseas, he started thinking about value for money and the benefits of local production. He found a factory in Garfield Park that makes uniforms for firefighters, the military, and other public workers, and he decided to launch a line of locally made work clothes.
Evans has been prototyping clothing for about two years and officially launched Domestic Workwear last spring—“I didn’t want to come out with a brand and promises I couldn’t keep,” he says. Designs are simple, “really unassuming, clean basic cuts, no labels or logos.” The Sweetbutter pants are made of preshrunk brushed bull denim cotton. Pockets are made of strong fabric to allow for holding tools and other working person's accessories, while the seat is designed to hold up to a lot of squatting and bending, with the added benefit of being cut high enough to avoid the dreaded plumber’s butt. “Service industry people love these pants,” says Evans, as well as office drones. “They’re essentially flat-front chinos.”
At around $90, the price, of course, is higher than what you’d pay for Dickies at Penney's, but Evans is adamant that the value is better. ”These pants might costs twice as much but they last three times as long, so they’re technically cheaper,” he notes. “A mover can pay 60 bucks for a bag of weed . . . a bag of weed lasts you three days. I think you can make a case for ponying up an extra 30 or 40 bucks for your pants.”
He also offers a City Mouse Country Mouse work coat, inspired by and produced in collaboration with an Amish community in Ohio, and is working on shirts made out of recycled plastic bottles as well as work pants for women that will be specially sized to reflect different hip-to-waist ratios. “All told I’ll have, like, 23 sizes of women’s work pants and they will also be adjustable within that,” he says. “I’m charging 100 bucks, I wanna make sure they fit really good. And if they’re going to last that long, your body might change.”
Evans estimates costs for clothes to range from about 60 or 70 dollars for shirts to up to $250 for jackets—more expensive than what’s on sale at Sears, but hardly stratospheric, especially when you consider that they’re made locally with mainly American-made materials; about 90 to 95 percent, Evans says. To keep costs down as much as possible, he is planning on selling directly to consumers, although he is currently talking to some stores. A few pieces are available at Made Gallery, 1711 S. Halsted. “I’d love to work with more companies and businesses—delivery companies, moving companies. I’d love to get into uniform contracts,” he says.
Evans’s enthusiasm, positivity, and community-mindedness are so strong it was hard for me not to be completely charmed, even as my in-box gets more cluttered with e-mails announcing retail closings and slightly desperate-sounding sales every week. He’s excited about working with the Amish and talks about how many of the younger people have had to move into light manufacturing, as there aren’t enough farms to give this growing population enough work. He goes on about trying to revive apparel manufacturing in Chicago and really give graduates of the city’s fashion programs incentive to stay and work here. It’s a vision of a small business model that seems to be more of a mirage than ever, but he’s passionate enough to make me hope that the old saw about hard work and some good luck being enough is true—at least once in a while.
Evans will have a launch party for Domestic Workwear and sell men's and women's items next Wednesday, January 18, at 8 PM at Hollywood Lounge, 3301 W. Bryn Mawr. The event also features bands Names Divine, Quicksails, Ryley Walker, and Murdertron 4000, as well as the DJs of Stripped and Chewed Records. Admission is free.
Comments (13)
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Jesus Christ... The hipsterization/commodification of "work" continues. Does he have any idea what people who actually work make? On top of that Carhartt duck jeans are $23 online, well under the $90 he wants to charge.
http://workwearsavings.sportsmansguide.com…
like
dislikeThis is fantastic. Sure, the cost *seems* high, but think about the conditions that makes it possible to buy a pair of pants for $23. They should cost way more than that, and don't only because they're probably made in a factory in China with crap materials. In the long run, one pair of pants that are constructed well with quality materials, and made locally, are worth the money and benefit the local economy - which benefits everyone in that locality - way more than the money that is "saved" by buying a pair of pants that are made in China. I'm interested in textile and clothing production, and am excited that it is growing in Chicago.
There's a lot to be said for saving $67 on a tougher pair of pants (if irregular). And Carhartt says that most of their factories are in the US and Mexico.
@Ze Roberto there's nothing hipster about this brand, unless you wanna read it like that, and I guess anybody can cynically read anything as hipster if they want to. It's not trend oriented, if I was chasing the 'workwear trend' I'd be about 3 years late anyway...
@Lindsey thanks for these words -- I really hope that these products will provide a good value.
@Chicago Reader thanks for the writeup :)
DE
You can't even get the good Carhartt items here in America anyway. The British line blows our products away, fact. I've seen Daniel's work wear and it is very durable and will/does last. There are no logos (for those despise hipsters...) and the lines are clean and plain. His work ethic is altruistic and so is his model. I wish him nothing but the best.
I'm a mover, been sporting the prototype for almost a year now, amazing pants! DE tailored them for me too! My worst days are the days they are too dirty to wear.
-JM (Move-tastic!)
Anyone who hasn't met him will definitely have his/her cheap sweatshop-constructed pants charmed off by Daniel Evans. My boyfriend has two pairs of the work pants (one in black, one in grey). They look real damn good and have lasted through hundreds of hours of mover labor. Go Domestic Workwear!
I heard this one time he offered someone 50 bucks to move a piano with him and he never paid him. This hack doesn't care about workers. Trendy fake. P.S that was me.
Hey @Chris Medellin you are RSVPed to the party maybe you can take this up with me eye to eye instead of in a comments section LOL! Last 2 times I seen you you shook my hand and acted nice whats the story???
“A mover can pay 60 bucks for a bag of weed . . . a bag of weed lasts you three days. I think you can make a case for ponying up an extra 30 or 40 bucks for your pants.”
So, when is the public offering?
@FGFM Tomorro nite, Hollywood Lounge 3301 W Bryn Mawr 8pm-2am . Good bands cheap beer cash only bar no cover.
http://www.facebook.com/events/22320856442…
Then a few days after that all the new stuff will be available on the website ...
http://domesticworkwear.com ...
Cheers
Like this very much. I'm a photographer and need clothing that wear well and with some of the places you end up in trying to get a shot, comfort and movability is important. But plastic clothing...hope you reconsider. We need more organic fiber out here.
