Ford and Carhartt’s shared Detroit roots frame a conversation about workwear, durability, and the people who actually use the products. The hosts trace Carhartt’s origins, explain how feedback from railroad workers shaped early designs, and connect that mindset to a Carhartt-branded Super Duty project. Along the way, they highlight practical truck details like all-weather mats and protective film, while also touching on Carhartt’s retail growth and long-standing overlap with Ford drivers.
In this episode, we travel to Detroit for a special celebration between Ford and Carhartt — two iconic American brands shaped by generations of hard work on the same job sites. We take a closer look at the expanding partnership, including exclusive new merchandise and the upcoming 2027 Ford Super Duty Carhartt Special Edition truck, set to arrive later this year.
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"I came from Miami yesterday still like in the 40s or 50s and I'm with Ben Ewe and he works with Carhartt this is a company that I know by the logo sure ... we're here for the presentation ... of a new variant of the Ford Super Duty pickup truck and now it has a Carhartt edition"
Carhartt is a clothing brand famous for tough work clothes. In this segment, it’s also being used to brand a special version of a Ford truck.
Carhartt is a workwear brand known for durable clothing aimed at tradespeople. In this episode, Carhartt is being used as a collaboration identity for a special Ford Super Duty variant, tying the truck’s image to long-lasting “work gear” heritage.
"we're here for the presentation or the view of a new variant of the Ford Super Duty pickup truck and now it has a Carhartt edition but it's not just a name like there's a lot into it"
The Ford Super Duty is Ford’s tougher, heavy-duty pickup made for serious jobs—like towing and hauling. Here they’re talking about a special Carhartt version of it.
The Ford Super Duty pickup truck is Ford’s heavy-duty line built for high-load work like towing and hauling. In this segment, the hosts mention a Carhartt edition variant, which typically means the truck is packaged with workwear-inspired styling and utility-focused features.
Concept
heavy-duty clothing
"what he noticed was that the clothes that they were wearing were not up to the task ... these were not heavy-duty clothing and for this weather like I was talking about you're right"
Heavy-duty clothing just means clothes made for tough work—so they don’t fall apart quickly. The speaker is saying older clothes weren’t built as well, especially for bad weather.
“Heavy-duty clothing” refers to workwear designed to resist wear from demanding jobs and harsh conditions. The hosts contrast it with older garments made from scraps and poor materials, explaining why Carhartt’s early products were built to last in tough weather.
"...eagues here for people we're gonna talk about the Ford super duty project too I mean the clothes now look cool..."
The Ford Super Duty is a large pickup truck meant for heavy tasks like towing and hauling. The Lariat is the nicer, more comfort-focused version, and the Tremor package is meant to help it handle rougher roads better. It’s often discussed because it’s a truck that can do both work and more rugged driving.
The Ford Super Duty Lariat Tremor is a heavy-duty pickup truck built for work and tougher off-road use, with the Lariat trim adding more comfort features. The “Tremor” package typically focuses on improved traction and off-road capability compared with a standard setup. It’s a notable topic because it blends a high-capacity truck platform with a more rugged, adventure-ready configuration.
"...ave been driving Ford for decades you know over a century people driving Ford have been wearing Carhartt so..."
The Buick Century is a regular passenger car, usually a sedan, made for everyday driving. It was designed to be comfortable for commuting and family use. People bring it up because it’s been around for a long time.
The Buick Century is a mid-size sedan that Buick produced for many years, known for being a comfortable, everyday family car. It often comes up in conversations about long-running American models because it represents a long era of mainstream sedans. In a podcast, it may be mentioned as part of a broader “what people have been driving for decades” theme.
"of course the
[511.6s] wheel which is incredible which is based on the idea of the manhole covers in
[516.4s] Detroit"
Here, “wheel” means the truck’s custom wheel design. They’re saying it’s inspired by the look of manhole covers, so it’s meant to be both distinctive and durable-looking.
In this context, “wheel” refers to a custom wheel design that’s inspired by manhole covers. The hosts connect the visual and texture concept to Detroit’s iconic manhole-cover pattern, making it a distinctive styling element for the truck addition.
"and the
[516.4s] logoing on the bottom of the
[520.4s] doors and the side that's actually a protective film so it keeps the
[525.5s] keeps the materials and the paint from getting dinged up"
A protective film is like a thin shield over paint. It helps prevent scratches and dents from everyday wear, especially in areas that get hit a lot.
A protective film is a clear or colored layer applied to painted surfaces to reduce chips, scratches, and other damage. Here, it’s used on the lower door/side areas to keep the truck’s materials and paint from getting “dinged up.”
"yeah the
[543.8s] all-weather mats you saw on there are specific to this addition and it was
[548.5s] inspired by the tool bags that we make"
All-weather mats are floor protectors made to handle wet or dirty conditions. They help keep the truck’s interior cleaner and easier to clean after messy work.
All-weather mats are floor liners designed to protect the cabin from mud, water, and road grime. They’re typically made to be easy to clean and to resist staining, which matches the “work tool” theme described for this truck addition.
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but today we're here in Detroit is May but still a little bit cold for my taste
I came from Miami yesterday still like in the 40s or 50s and I'm with Ben
Ewe and he works with Carhartt this is a company that I know by the logo sure
and I've been seeing it for I don't know forever because I mean it's a lot of very
old company established here in Detroit and we're here for the presentation or
the view of a new variant of the Ford Super Duty pickup truck and now it has a
Carhartt edition but it's not just a name like there's a lot into it but let's
start with the history of the company because I again like me a lot of people
know the name the logo they've seen it but they don't know about the company
sure so Carhartt was founded in 1889 in Detroit and Hamilton Carhartt had a
horse and wagon business where he was selling work clothes and accessories to
railroad workers in southeast Michigan and what he noticed was that the clothes
that they were wearing were not up to the task you know if you saw clothes from
that time they were made out of poor materials scraps you know sometimes
sewn together by their wives you know these were not heavy-duty clothing and
for this weather like I was talking about you're right especially for this
weather and what Hamilton did was he's the you know he's an entrepreneur so
said I'm gonna come out and make a better pair of bibs and he made a pair of
bibs and they filled miserably they didn't work but like anything at the
beginning right like anything at the beginning but Hamilton made a big
breakthrough and this is what we still do today at Carhartt he went and talked
directly to the rail workers and said what do you know so he started with this
idea of working directly with the people who are using the product so he
talked to a railroad engineer and said what do you need and they said well we
need durable materials so the first thing that he did was source the most
durable materials that he could at the time from the material from the fabric to
the accessories from the grommets we're talking again late 1800 1889 yeah yeah
so we he was a long time ago yeah he was making product before then but the
company was incorporated in 1889 they also said I need to be able to move and
so back then oh yeah that's important there was no stretcher spandex back then
which is how early Carhartt garments were oversized so that's why people still
associate those larger sizes yeah and they said we need things that are
functional so he put oversized pockets and made sure that they fit the tools and
in fact our earliest bibs had a space for a pocket watch which is something that
railroad engineers of the time yeah they need to make sure that some of my
age like our grand great-grandfathers had one and may pass it through generations
sure and they were little pockets like for that specifically right and we make
jokes you know about how not a lot of people are carrying pocket watches in
our newer bibs actually have zip pockets to put phones in them because we
always we always want to make sure that they're functional but a very important
thing was the railroad workers told Hamilton this is like we don't have a
lot of money we can't afford to constantly we buy new stuff so his
product because he made it oversized because it had more pockets and because
it's made out of the best materials actually costs more than anything I say
yeah but what he said was because it's this relationship is if you wear it
you'll find that dollar for dollar and cent for cent it'll be the best value
that you can get and that you pay more for the initial product but you won't
pay in the in the long term for it you're exactly right I love that quote I'm
too too broke to buy cheap yeah exactly so if you spend more money upfront it'll
last you longer and we talk about this idea of value in the hard-earned dollar
so making sure that our product if it's durable if it's functional it'll last
and people will not only wear for themselves but they'll pass it on to the
relatives so I learned a couple things history wise today one about a hotel
that I'm staying the girlfriend with that you mentioned that was the first
factory that was Carhart's first factory started with just a couple showing
machines and a loft and now it's turned into a beautiful billion dollar brand
that still stands for hard works and the values that Hamilton had my job in
many ways is very easy because I just tell the team let's act like Hamilton
not every single person on the team but we go on two to three dozen job site
visits a year so we're working directly with the people learning from them we
include them in our design process we have them field test product they look
at sketches they give us input because everything that we do is built for work
and we have to make sure that it's serving the purposes of the people in
now nowadays I mean I see your colleagues here for people we're gonna
talk about the Ford super duty project too I mean the clothes now look cool too
it's like a fashion statement almost well but still you work with Ford
directly and they worry at the factories right yeah I tell you I think
functionality is cool you know our products work which is why I think
people like them and also too as we continue to build for future generations
we have to make sure that our products are comfortable we have to make sure that
they have modern functionality we're making product for a new generation of
people who've grown up wearing athletic gear so our functional fabrics the
materials you know the pants that I'm wearing right now these are high
stretching them yeah we make them for the needs of my way it all car have
everything yeah wow but again if it happens to look at you that's great we
say that we're we're not a trendy company we are aware of trends we don't
want a product to look bad but I think functionality durability actually is
its own aesthetic and it looks great and I think when people wear our products
they wear it because of the values that went into it people can wear it in a
fashionable way of life but we don't make anything like duty
okay has our patch on it has to hit our exacting standards it has to hit our
durability requirements even if somebody's wearing it in a fashionable
they can still go into a job site and be safe well the relationship with four motor
companies is very deep too and long right because as you said they visited
Hamilton visited the companies during Ford I would think yeah back in the day
yeah our our current offices are only a couple miles apart you know we can drive
between them during the project we were back and forth but Ford and Detroit are
sorry Ford and Carhartt are both family-owned companies
still wow both founded in Detroit 14 years apart we've always been making
product for people on hard-working job sites Ford has been making the equipment
to get people to and from those job sites and to be more productive on the job
sites people wearing Carhartt have been driving Ford for decades you know
over a century people driving Ford have been wearing Carhartt so there's been
this very authentic relationship but it's only recently that we came together
and said what can we build as a group yeah I also learned that at some point
Ford made clothing and Carhartt made cars they did I mean the Carhartt car
unfortunately had to compete with Ford at the time and so it didn't do as well
and I think Ford had to compete with our product but we have proof that there
were orders that they placed to get bibs and overalls for their workers in
their factories so even though we weren't making products specifically for Ford
they were ordering our product for the people who are working on it let's talk
about this project this is a new addition for the super duty and it has the logo
the Carhartt logo but it has more than that like it has it was thought like
the clothing right like it's an accessory to a vehicle that it's a
work tool yeah we wanted to make sure that it had
functionality at its base so all the decisions we made were built around
function and there are some very unique things with this truck of course the
wheel which is incredible which is based on the idea of the manhole covers in
Detroit which you've heard about yeah even the logoing on the bottom of the
doors and the side that's actually a protective film so it keeps the
keeps the materials and the paint from getting dinged up and from getting
scratched up so even our logo choices had to be functional
the colors on the inside with the darker browns and the grays and the
heathers we did it to make sure that it wouldn't get dirty so that I could
absorb spills so that people weren't afraid to do hard work in them yeah the
all-weather mats you saw on there are specific to this addition and it was
inspired by the tool bags that we make so you're getting the custom all-weather
floor mats which comes standard the different wheel you're getting the
functional branding you're getting our logo on the back of the truck
you're getting the colors the materials so no this is not just putting our logo
on a truck this is a functionally built purposeful machine for hard work
and the materials themselves are specific for a car they're not materials
like clothing so they're like much more resistant but with the same philosophy
and like the same principles for the for the clothing right you're exactly
right so it's the mindset that went over there so our materials of course are
great for work but they're not great for automotive uses and we wanted to use
the right material for the right job so the idea about functionality being
inspired by our colors and by the weave of our dark canvas was brought out in
the automotive realm so the debut for this truck the 2027 super duty car heart
it's at a special celebration here at what is called Detroit station
michigan's michigan's central and what is that about because it's to celebrate
the the people who wear your clothing and ride the trucks right yeah it's
interesting because there's actually going to be more essential workers there
than there are employees that grace so you'll see are you going to be going
yeah yeah yeah absolutely it's all about celebrating essential workers and these
are the people who keep America running they contribute so much to our economy
they do so much to keep America running like i said that we wanted to celebrate them
celebrate their hard work and you'll see it really come to life there of course
we're going to talk about the truck but when you walk in and you see the shadow boxes when
you hear the stories of the people who wear our product you're going to see it's really
about celebrating the essential workers so car heart again is
Detroit but you're like global i guess like people where do people cap buy your clothing
i have to be honest i don't see it like in many places where i can buy it so if you want to buy
it in the united states of course we have our internet you know so our website is very popular
we're going to have 50 stores by the end of this year so we have two stores in Detroit we have
stores throughout the united states and we're also sold through a lot of work channels so you
will see us at Lowe's oh i see okay okay so we're not in every door but we're getting there with Lowe's
you'll see us at Ace Hardware you'll also see us at places where hardworking people shop so you
see us at tractor supply you'll see us at Blaine's fleet and farm yeah we also have been selling at
Dix because the sporting equipment yeah you know they they sell a lot of technical and functional
product and our product is that way too so our outerwear is there our bottoms a lot of
are sweatshirts some of which have durable water resistance on them so our functional
product that resonates with a younger consumer is showing up there too and we're lucky Carhartt's
one of the few brands where everybody in the family can wear Carhartt yeah so from infant
all the way out to grandfather we make product for everyone so people can come in and interact
with our brand whoever they like well thank you very much and i really love where an car event
turns into something else like you i like the cars obviously but i also like learning something new
so i come with like a couple of new things that i didn't know about so thank you very much for
your time yeah i appreciate you too and i will enjoy the celebration tomorrow good is this your
first time in Detroit no no no i was here even in January for the formal event when
it was even colder i was a bit cold yeah maybe i'll get a jacket well you know what go to our
store we can we can take care of you i will do that thank you thank you
that's it for today's ai auto podcast with Javier Moda hope you enjoyed the ride as much as we did
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