Commentary

GEAR: Burton X Carhartt WIP

Blue-collar style with a hefty dose of Burton functionality

Updated: October 24, 2011, 1:42 PM ET
By Colin Whyte | ESPN Action Sports

Courtesy photoAnd if you need to fix your truck or your busted snowmobile while you're at it, you're good to go.

What do the Prudhoe Bay rig worker, Bronx tagger, and Pittsburgh gravedigger all have in common? Well, burlier constitutions than us, yeah, but they also all have Carhartt workwear protecting their hides. For over 120 years, Carhartt's bombproof canvas clothing has been a classy way to tell people, "Yeah, I work for a living." Now you can have all that blue-collar style with a hefty dose of Burton functionality, including full Gore-Tex, taped seams, and more.

WHAT IT IS:
The second collabo between Burton and Carhartt WIP (Work In Progress) and a more full-blooded union than the first. If you love Carhartt's beefy fabric and classic colors, but don't want to look like a lifty on a ski break, this kit is worth a closer look. Every detail has been considered and it shows.

Courtesy photoWorking man label status.
Carhartt's Beate Kroissenbrunner explains the design team's aesthetic going in: "We did this collaboration to bring back a little bit of decency and understatement in the snowboard world. We were tired of seeing everyone wearing XXXXXL sizes and multicolor, all-over printed jackets and pants. We asked Burton to work on the smallest available fit, because right now everyone on a board looks like they are out from a '90s hip-hop video clip. We thought it was time to bring back decent sizing, and sober colors."

Team rider Danny Davis knows what he likes: "I love workwear! And, being from Michigan, I grew up looking at lots of people in Carhartt one-pieces in the winter. The collaboration is sick on many levels: Style for one, tech for another, and function, as outerwear takes a serious beating with snowmobiling and climbing around in the backcountry. This stuff will more than hold up I'm sure!"

WHY IT RULES:

Well, these pieces are more bull-wheel than bull-honkey, that's why. Available in traditional Carhartt Brown or Black, these would probably pass as regular workwear if you found yourself sharing a pitcher with some cat drivers (unlikely). The instantly recognizable cotton duck texture, the color-ways, the pocket flaps, the buttons, the badging are all on-point industrial Americana. Nobody needs to know that the only time you've ever used a tape measure is for your stance and that you think "hammer" means "large, difficult trick."

Add to this Burton's lifetime guarantee on both, and a removable hood and warming pockets on the jacket. Plus, the jacket-to-pant interface means you can pretend to be a commercial plumber without plumber's butt and keep powder out of places powder don't belong. The double-layer Gore-Tex Performance Oxford and 13 mm seam tape are just made for sleet-blasted double chairs and the cut is still roomy enough to get rad. Remember though: Real blue-collar shredders only ever grab method and never spin past 180 degrees. Never.

WHERE TO FIND IT:
Burton Flagship stores, Carhartt storesand specially selected core retailers with beefy hanger collections. The jacket retails for $330, the pant $230.

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