Celebrity stylist and avid vintage collector Mark Avery lends his golden touch to Cat Apparel.
On Monday, the workwear brand released the Cat Apparel Designed by Avery Ranch collection.
“For this collection, I wanted the pieces to feel authentic to the brand. I think today’s consumers can sniff out brands that jump from trend to trend versus brands that have a true identity,” Mark Avery told SJ Denim. “Caterpillar’s long history in the American workwear apparel space is something that I wanted to accentuate here, so that these pieces, even though they are new, seem like they could have been your favorite find at a local vintage store or passed down through generations.”
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Raised in rural Virginia, Avery’s style sensibility was shaped by “work boots, busted denim and the quiet strength of everyday laborers.” He brings this nostalgic aesthetic to red carpets and campaigns, styling some of Hollywood’s most recognizable names including Ryan Gosling, who recently wore a hat from the collection. It is also the backbone to his designs with Cat.
Though stylists are increasingly stepping out from behind-the-scenes, Avery emphasized he didn’t want to make a Hollywood-version of Cat workwear. Rather, he wanted to make an authentic workwear line that works for all workers. “I know what translates well on red carpets and late-night shows,” Avery told SJ Denim. “But I also grew up in rural Virginia and have had a lifelong appreciation for traditional workwear. So, I think taking those two pieces, and pulling from the Cat team’s expertise as well, we were able to create a collection with pieces that will work for everyone.”
Caterpillar’s 1980s archives and Avery’s personal collection serve as the main sources of inspiration for the line. A bomber jacket is made with mid-weight stretch corduroy. A heavy canvas Trucker jacket features tonal stitching. Canvas pants have double-knee paneling for reinforcement. A flannel shirt and canvas shirt nod to vintage Americana with pointed yoke seams and pearl snap buttons. The collection also includes logo tees and hats, with esveral styles featuring the brand’s “Diesel Power” slogan.
Each piece has a special “Designed by Avery Ranch” label—the moniker of Avery’s Los Angeles home. “Avery Ranch is both the place I call home and my company. It’s more than just a physical place now because it was an idea way before I owned a home or even dreamed of getting to share my passions with others,” Avery said. “Avery Ranch is the product of my daydreams in every way, a place or feeling that everyone is invited to participate in.”
The collaboration was born from mutual admiration. “I’ve been a fan of the brand for as long as I can remember,” Avery said. “To be honest I don’t remember there being a time when I wasn’t aware of the logo, the iconic Cat, and it was always synonymous with hard work and effortlessly masculine and cool.”
The collection evolved during a two-year creative marathon, where Avery worked alongside the Cat team at both the brand’s Bozeman, Mont. offices and at Avery Ranch. It began with the Avery going through his personal collection of vintage pieces and pulling together imagery of iconic characters and people who had worn Caterpillar in the ’80s. “I brought all of this to the Cat team as inspiration for the collection. Working together, they helped me understand how we could take all these pieces I’d found and make a cohesive, modern collection,” he said. Video calls, email updates and lookbook were exchanged throughout 2025 while Avery was on location as a client filmed a movie.
Avery’s experience as a stylist led him to focus on the collection’s fit, feel and proportions—from the length of the sleeves and the seams on the pants to the sizes of the hats.
“Knowing how well something fits can really make or break a look, I wanted to make sure that the sizing and proportions on everything made sense,” he said. “By focusing on these items, my goal was to ensure that there is a piece or two in this collection that anyone can wear to any type of job site, whether that’s on a red carpet or a ranch.”
Nicole Hom, director of marketing for CAT apparel, described the collaboration as a natural expression of how Caterpillar is evolving as a lifestyle brand, particularly in bringing the brand’s global identity to the North American market.
“While Cat has long been rooted in workwear here, globally the brand has developed a strong presence in streetwear and fashion. This collection serves as a bridge between those two worlds,” she said.
The Avery Ranch collection is just the start of Cat’s efforts to grow its lifestyle category in the U.S. This spring, the brand will introduce Cat WWR, a collection that reflects how people actually move through their day. “Cat apparel has always been designed for wherever you find work, but today that extends beyond the jobsite. It’s about the intersections of life—from the desk or worksite to airport gates to school pick-ups,” Hom said.
She added that this evolution builds on Cat’s heritage of durability and purpose, while adapting to modern expectations around versatility, style, and self-expression.
“We’re not moving away from our workwear roots—we’re expanding on them, bringing a more global, streetwear-influenced perspective to North America with an eye toward where the brand is going next,” she said.
