How To Wear A Carhartt Beanie
Colin Dempsey
Table of Contents
If you haven’t already seen a Carhartt beanie out on the streets then you’ve probably seen the memes about them online. They’re so ubiquitous that memes are poking fun at totally different types of people who sport the hat. And you know what? Every one of those memes is true.
The memes are great incidental marketing for Carhartt because they show just how easily anybody can look good in one of these hats. Skaters, snowboarders, sorority girls, hipsters, nature enthusiasts, and laborers can all wear the exact same Carhartt beanie and it’ll look fantastic on them.
You’re probably wondering how to wear a Carhartt beanie and make it work for you. Well, you came to the right place. Even though the beanie is a great all-around hat, there are some nuances to wearing it properly so that you can give off the vibe you’re going for.
By reading this guide, not only will you learn how to wear a Carhartt beanie, but you’ll also learn some information about:
- Carhartt’s history and the story of their beanie
- When you should wear a Carhartt beanie
- What separates a Carhartt beanie from other hats
- What things to avoid when wearing a Carhartt beanie
- Where you should go to buy this hat
You’ll also find this guide useful if you have an interest in any of the following search terms:
- Carhartt beanie womens
- White Carhartt beanie
- Black Carhartt beanie
- Pink Carhartt beanie
- Baby Carhartt beanie
- Carhartt beanie men’s
- Cheetah Carhartt beanie
- Brown Carhartt beanie
- Green Carhartt beanie
What Is A Carhartt Beanie?
It’s really easy to define a Carhartt beanie. Its style has remained largely unchanged since it launched over three decades ago. However, its simplicity is one of its strongest traits.
Carhartt beanies are known for their ruffled texture, insulating qualities, and versatility.
They’re all-around hats that you can sport with most outfits. Functionally, they’re awesome because they can keep your head and ears warm without overheating. Lastly, their texture gives them a more interesting look than other knitted beanies.
History Of Carhartt Beanies
The entire history of the Carhartt brand is interesting in its own right, but it’s also long-winded.
All you need to know is that the company was established in 1889 in one of America’s most labor-intensive cities, Detroit, Michigan. Hamilton Carharrt started his namesake brand to manufacture clothes for laborers who performed arduous manual work.
As such, the first Carhartt items were designed for railroad workers and met their needs. The clothes had to be tough, long-lasting, and tightly knit.
Over the years, the company has operated with this same mindset but its clothing has evolved to integrate new technologies and fabrics.
This long history of creating workwear has led people to push back against the brand’s recent embrace by the fashion world. However, that gatekeeping attitude is misplaced because most Carhartt products are, to be frank, unspectacular and utilitarian.
What most people think of when they imagine a Carhartt product, including the beanies, are actually from Carhartt Work In Progress (WIP).
This is a subdivision of Carhartt that began a full century after the original company was founded. It’s headed by Edwin and Salomée Faeh—two German fashion designers who wanted to take Carhartt’s workman image and bring it into the fashion world.
Carhartt WIP products are the ones that you’ll likely find in most fashion retailers and adorning people’s bodies on the street. They’re designed for style as opposed to structure—taking the tough materials of Carhartt’s original items and injecting them with a modern flair.
Even though Carhartt beanies technically predate the Carhartt WIP brand—the former debuted in 1987 while the subbrand came into its own in the mid-’90s—they’re more closely associated with the Carhartt WIP’s fashion-forward approach rather than Carhartt’s rigid reputation.
This can mostly be attributed to the fact that celebrities began sporting Carhartt beanies in the mid-aughts. One prominent example is Rihanna, who famously wore a neon Carhatt beanie in 2011. The beanie’s popularity has only soared since then, leading us to today.
While nobody knows for sure why Carhartt beanies are so beloved nowadays, there are a few things about the beanies that make them a reliable choice. First of all, they’re durable as all heck, demonstrated by the fact that skaters and manual laborers sport them in all seasons.
Another factor that likely aided in their proliferation is the fact that they come in so many colors. There’s no definitive Carhartt beanie because you can find a color that matches your personality with ease. I’ll go over the available colors later in this guide if you’re curious about how many there are.
Finally, the beanies are affordable. Most Carhartt beanies cost less than $30 on the brand’s official website. This means that people of any class or wealth bracket can grab one and instantly jump on the fashion bandwagon.
When To Wear A Carhartt Beanie
Considering that beanies are winter hats, it should be obvious when you should wear one. When it’s cold, throw one on. That makes it easy to figure out how to wear a Carhartt beanie because you don’t have to worry about the weather.
You’ll likely be wearing something to keep your ears warm anyway, so you may as well wear a Carhartt beanie.
On that note, you’d never wear one of these hats when it’s hot outside. For as great as Carhartt beanies are at staying tough, they’re also not extremely breathable.
That’s good in the fall and winter when you don’t want to release too much heat, but it’s not what you want during the spring. As such, you should only wear a Carhartt beanie when the temperatures start to drop.
How To Wear A Carhartt Beanie
One of the most popular ways that people remedy the dilemma of ‘how to wear a Carhartt beanie’ is by not giving it too much thought. While this can work most of the time, it may lead to some tonal clashes between the beanie and the rest of your outfit depending on the color.
This isn’t something that you’ll run into if you buy a beanie with a neutral or earthy tone like black, white, or brown, so I’d recommend adding one of those colors to your wardrobe. This will grant you the freedom to pair the hat with whatever other items you’d like. Which will make figuring out how to wear a Carhartt beanie so much easier.
Another good option is to wear the Carhartt beanie with other workwear pieces. This can be as simple as adding a pair of leather boots to your outfit. And any chance to wear Doc Martens is a chance worth taking in my opinion.
You can extend this concept to more workwear pieces. Denim jackets and flannels work perfectly with Carhartt beanies because they both give off the same rough and rugged vibe. Similarly, cargo pants have a worker-ant spirit that pairs well with Carhartt beanies. Gee, if only there was a brand that sold great cargos and beanies?
On that note, Carhartt beanies are the single best accessory that you can wear alongside another of the brand’s famous items—their overalls. Tough overalls and a Carhartt beanie can have you looking like you’ve been through the wringer and lived to tell the tale, but in a fashionable way, of course.
Luckily, when considering how to wear a Carhartt beanie, you’re not limited to workwear. If you don’t gel with the common folk who have to actually work for their living (disgusting, I know), then you can add some subtle elements of class to your outfit.
Wedged high heels, designer sweaters, and thick wool sweaters exude a varsity vibe. Items like this can help you tap into the Ivy League look that’s popular in larger east coast cities.
To help you see what some of these ideas look like in the real world I’ll show you a few outfit ideas below. I’ll go over what works about each of them so that you can learn how to apply these ideas to your own outfits.
3 Outfit Ideas With A Carhartt Beanie
The first outfit idea I have for you exemplifies Carhartt’s blue-collar origins. It has a rugged look that, although may include brand-name goods, you can adapt to your wardrobe. All you need is a solid pair of black pants, black sneakers, and a worker jacket.
This option is a great way to keep the hard-working spirit of Carhartt alive. It’s also lowkey enough that you can flex your Carhartt beanie, giving it a rare spotlight that most other outfits don’t provide.
Brightly-colored Carhartt beanies are all the rage these days and they’re a fun way to add a pop of color to your winter outfits. This style works in a similar way to the last outfit I included. The rest of the ensemble features neutral colors and traditional fits so that the Carhartt beanie can shine through.
I especially like the orange Carhartt beanie here because it’s a warm color that’s not too bright. Wearing black, white, and denim gives the hat a platform to stand out.
This is a great outfit to throw on when you want the hat to speak for itself, or if you don’t want to put too much thought into what you’re wearing for the day.
Let’s turn to Kacey Musgraves for a bit of inspiration. Carhartt beanies have a cozy and cold-weather appearance that works well with flannels. So, it’s a no-brainer to wear a Carhartt beanie with your favorite flannel.
The flannel can be any color but I have to admit that the fall colors in this ensemble are quite appealing. Plus, the brown Carhartt beanie adds to the autumn vibe wonderfully. This is a look that you’ll want to break out when the leaves are falling off of the trees.
What Type Of Carhartt Beanie Outfits Can You Get?
If you check Carhartt’s website then you’ll find around 20 different styles of Carhartt beanies. However, some of these are purely functional, like the Carharrt Flame Resistant Fleece 2-in-1 Hat.
The two most popular Carhartt beanies are the Carhartt Knit Cuffed Beanie and the Carhartt Blend Cuffed Beanie. The former is the one that pretty much everyone is familiar with and it’s available in nearly two dozen colors.
These colors include standard single hues like orange, navy, and brown, but there are also interesting blended colorways like dijon/winter white marl, Oliver winter white, and scout blue/powder blue marl.
How To Choose The Best Carhartt Beanie Outfit
The hardest decision you’ll face when it comes to choosing the best Carhartt beanie is picking the right color. I use the term ‘right’ but what’s right for me will be different than what’s right for you. There are no wrong colors, especially with Carhartt beanies, so just pick the color that speaks to you the most.
Now, choosing the best overall Carhartt beanie outfit depends on the situation. For instance, if it’s blistering cold outside and you’re in the middle of a snow storm then forget about style and just wear what keeps you alive.
When the weather isn’t so horrendous then you’ll have to consider a few more things. If you’re going to go somewhere lowkey then you’ll want to choose an outfit that captures those qualities.
But, if you’re going to an event where you know you’ll be social and/or the focal point of the affair then you may want to pick an outfit that shows off your personality more.
In both these situations, it’s best to match the Carhartt beanie to your outfit. And you’ll learn some quick tips about how to do that in the next section.
How To Style A Carhartt Beanie Outfit
These are some fast rules that you can keep handy when you need to know how to wear a Carhartt beanie.
- When in doubt, black wins out: Monochromatic black outfits are easy to build and go with everything, removing much of the guesswork that can lead to option paralysis.
- Go for neutral tones: This will allow you to add more elements to your outfit and give more space for your Carhartt beanie to play an integral role in your look.
- Match your beanie with another piece of clothing: Whether it’s your shoes, your undershirt, or an accessory, this is a quick way to make your outfit appear more intentional and cohesive.
Fashion Tips To Avoid With A Carhartt Beanie Outfit
While I just mentioned that you should try and match your Carhartt beanie with another item in your outfit, I don’t want you to get carried away.
As a prime example, you wouldn’t want to match your beanie with your jacket unless you’re trying to wear an all-black or all-white outfit. It can look a little too matchy-matchy and uptight if you do so.
Also, wearing a brown Carhartt beanie and a brown jacket of the same tone can make you look like a blurry patch of dirt. Instead, I recommend matching the color of your Carhartt beanie to another item that’s smaller and further away from the hat.
That’s why I highlighted shoes and undershirts earlier. These are layers in between those pieces and the hat so there’ll be something to break up the look.
Another thing to avoid is wearing a Carhartt beanie over a business-ready outfit. Remember, Carhartt is a blue-collar brand for manual workers—not for stock brokers who drive to work in Teslas and wear three-piece suits to the office.
How To Take Care Of A Carhartt Beanie Outfit
As I’ve harped on numerous times so far, these beanies are tough.
So, focus more on how to wear a Carhartt beanie rather than taking care of it because they’re built to last through rain, snow, storms, collapsing infrastructures, hail, and other inclement weather conditions.
Best Places To Buy A Carhartt Beanie Outfit
Unless you’re looking for specific Carhartt beanies that are tougher to find, there’s no reason to discriminate between distributors.
Go with whatever option is easiest for you—whether that’s Amazon, the local skate shop in your mall, or directly through Carhartt.
Final Thoughts
There’s not much underlying mysticism or magic to figure out how to wear a Carhartt beanie.
We’re lucky that they’re so popular because it means that there are plenty of outfit ideas just on the street. However, you probably don’t want to copy what everyone else is wearing.
The great thing about Carhartt beanies is that they’re flexible. You can adapt them to your personal style and make them work for you rather than the other way around.
That’s one of the main reasons why they’ve maintained their popularity despite little-to-no innovations over the course of their lifespan. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?
Looking to up your fashion game? We’ve got you covered:
