For the last few decades, Carhartt WIP, the workwear juggernaut’s street-savvy younger sibling, has followed in the steel-toed footsteps of its older brother, pushing the brand’s purview beyond the jobsite. That mandate includes updating core products like work jackets and double-knee pants for the deskbound shopper, but it also includes tapping a who’s who of notable names—Marni, Junya Watanabe, A.P.C.—to bolster WIP’s clout. The latest name to throw his knit bucket hat into the ring? London-based designer Nicholas Daley, whose collaboration with the brand represents one of its most personal to date.
Daley launched his eponymous label in 2015, drawing on his Scottish and Jamaican heritage and the enduring cultural influence of the Black diaspora. The same touchpoints inform his collaboration with WIP. The assortment includes plenty of the hardy, insulated outerwear Carhartt is famous for, along with his own spin on the brand’s double-knee work pants and sturdy basics—plus a host of tartan-wrapped accessories and a set of incense sticks, for good measure.
Daley grew up in England, where he spent time working the floor at a store that sold streetwear powerhouses like Stüssy alongside, funnily enough, Carhartt WIP. The experience was formative. To wit: His canvas-and-denim spin on Carhartt’s iconic work jacket features panels of brushed corduroy rendered in iridescent navy blue and tobacco, accented by golden contrast stitching, a new elbow patch construction, and a row of grommets by the chest flap pocket.
The collection’s true standout motif is that vibrant tartan, inspired by a custom knit Daley’s mother made by hand. Aside from choosing the colors of the pattern, which nods to both the flags of Scotland and Jamaica, Daley gave his mother free reign to render the tartan however she envisioned. The final swatch ended up as a digital print interpreted across a jacket, tote bag, and several accessories. “I’m pretty sure we’re the first designers to have their mum involved,” Daley remembers telling the WIP team.
The familial connection doesn’t end there. One graphic tee Daley designed for the collection reworks a party flyer from his father’s days as a reggae DJ in the 1980s; another features a double logo, hand-drawn by Daley himself, inspired by the psychedelic graphics of artists like The Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix. Even the incense, produced by Kuumba, is a blend of scents from Daley’s memory, a heady mixture of pine needle, moss, hibiscus, and allspice.
When I spoke with Daley last week at WIP’s Williamsburg store, the designer had just flown in from Tokyo, the first stop on a whirlwind promotional tour that would take him to London shortly afterwards. For a launch of this magnitude, the collaboration still feels remarkably personal, and refreshingly close to home. You’re not just buying into Daley’s vision—you’re joining his community, a grossly overused term that actually rings true here. That’s authenticity no amount of marketing dollars can buy.
The Carhartt WIP x Nicholas Daley collection is available exclusively via Carhartt WIP and Nicholas Daley.
