Carhartt is making its move into Manhattan.
The Dearborn, Mich.-based workwear company is opening its first New York City store on Thursday in the Flatiron District — a 5,000-square-foot unit at 936 Broadway, on the corner of 22nd Street.
The location was one of several that the company explored when searching for a spot in the city. It had considered the Empire State Building, but opted for the Flatiron area in order to be more accessible to the local community, said Chad Cornstubble, senior vice president of direct-to-consumer for Carhartt.
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“We’re very data-oriented in how we choose our stores and we felt this location was most relevant to our customers,” he said.
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The store will mark the 57th unit for Carhartt, which is on track to raise that number to around 100 by 2030. Among the other cities where it will open stores in the near term are Sioux Falls, S.D.; Tempe, Ariz.; Prosper, Texas, and Memphis, Tenn. “We’re very methodical and want to make sure the locations are brand right,” Cornstubble said.
The stores also must be able to attract Carhartt’s core customer: the skilled worker. Although most people might be surprised, “New York City has a large amount of skilled tradespeople,” said Susan Hennike, chief brand officer, citing the large number of carpenters, electricians, construction workers and other blue-collar workers who live or work in the area.
Cornstubble said that although the store is located in Manhattan, it will be similar to units in other cities. “Our product mix is not different,” he said. “We stay true and authentic to who we are.”
The only difference is that the Flatiron store will be able to showcase more of the assortment because it’s larger than most of the other units. “It will have a broader assortment because of its size,” he said. “Only 30-35 percent of our assortment makes it into most stores, but New York City will have greater breadth.”
The store also retained some of the “bones” from the original space, including columns, Cornstubble said, and it will also feature a couple of New York-specific design details and graphics.
The assortment will be primarily men’s, but womenswear is seen as a growth area for Carhartt and is being given more space and prominence in new and remodeled stores. “Women’s is 20-25 percent of the mix in new doors but is only 10-15 percent in our older doors,” Cornstubble said.
Starting last year, Carhartt began offering products that featured women’s-specific fits and functionality. “There’s such an opportunity with women in the skilled trades,” Hennike said. Although the core messaging is the same regardless of gender — quality, durable products — the women’s line is “built specifically for her.” A new denim program will be launching in October to complement the workpants, sweatshirts, Ts and other pieces targeted to women, she said.
What Carhartt is not doing, however, is chasing the fashion customer who has embraced the brand. “We’re happy to take the halo, but we’re going to stay true to who we are,” Cornstubble said. “We may offer new colors and fits, but everything is still rigorously tested for breaks and tears. We never waver from authenticity.”
“We welcome everybody to the brand,” Hennike added. “We’ve become attractive to the street because we’re authentic. And durability has been our point of differentiation for 136 years.”
While brick-and-mortar may be the focus for the brand as it opens the Flatiron store, e-commerce also continues to be important. “It’s rapidly growing and doing quite well,” said Cornstubble of the company’s digital business which has been updated to include more storytelling such as that centered around the 50th anniversary of the Active Jac jacket that is currently featured on the homepage.
At the same time, wholesale continues to be key for Carhartt. Although they declined to reveal how much of the business is wholesale versus retail, Hennike said: “Our wholesale partners are very important to us.”
Cornstubble added that Carhartt looks at its retail stores as a complement to its wholesale business. Business usually increases for wholesalers when Carhartt opens a store in a community and the two work closely together to ensure the consumer is serviced.
“We don’t care where the sales come from,” Cornstubble said. “We just want to serve the community.”
To introduce itself to the New York City community, Carhartt will be giving away its K87 pocket T-shirt that was customized with a New York City logo. Because the company is expecting a large crowd, Cornstubble said Carhartt ordered double the number it usually produces for a store opening. “They’re going to go fast,” he predicted.
Shoppers will also gain triple loyalty points for qualifying purchases on the opening weekend and will also take home some gifts with purchase.
To promote the store, Carhartt will continue to lean into its Made Possible campaign that celebrates those in the skilled trades.
While this is the first Carhartt store in New York, there are two Carhartt Work in Progress units in the city: one in SoHo and the other in Williamsburg in Brooklyn that are separately owned and operated.
The Carhartt Co. was founded by Hamilton Carhartt in Detroit in 1889 as a workwear brand and it is still owned and operated by his descendants. In 1989, Swiss national Edwin Faeh started importing the workwear to Europe. He holds the global license for the line and created Carhartt WIP in 1994, offering trendy alternatives inspired by the utilitarian core collection.