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50 Years of the Carhartt WIP Active Jacket

50 Years of the Carhartt WIP Active Jacket
Oct 2025 by Harry Stephens
Carhartt WIP Active Jacket 50th Anniversary

To mark 50 years of the iconic Active Jacket, Carhartt WIP has created four special edition designs of the iconic piece. A symbol of memory and materiality, identity and adaptation, each new style honours the original.

Carhartt WIP Active Jacket Denim

Introduced in the US to serve a more casual consumer, the Active Jacket’s shape was based on the already popular Hooded Zip Sweatshirt, rebuilt with a tougher, reinforced exterior and insulated lining for warmth. In 1975, the style first appeared in denim (then considered an off-duty work fabric) with a bold red flannel lining. It was released in duck canvas shortly after, giving us the recognisable style we know today.

OG Active Jacket 1997

In 1997, Carhartt WIP introduced its own interpretation of this style, which would now be recognized as the OG Active Jacket, thanks to its loose, oversized silhouette. The item stayed true to its roots with a hooded bomber-style shape, triple stitching, and gold-tone hardware.

Carhartt WIP Active Jacket Collection

This year, Carhartt WIP will release three limited-edition, anniversary pieces: block colour and camouflage canvas, as well as denim. Retaining the classic details of the original silhouette, each edition is also fully reversible and bears a unique, commemorative Square Label.

Carhartt WIP Reversible Jackets

Two styles are constructed in their signature Dearborn Canvas: a black iteration with a red reverse, referencing the first ever Active Jacket, and a Hamilton Brown version, which pairs with a new ‘camo trebark’ motif.

Active Jacket Black USA Red Active Jacket Hamilton Brown Camo

There is also a denim version, which features a stone-bleached finish on one side, offering an intentionally worn-in appearance. On the reverse, the original bold red lining is reimagined in diamond-quilted sateen, detailed with anniversary labeling, graphic patches, and embroidery.

Denim Reversible Jacket

The history of the Active Jacket mirrors that of Carhartt WIP, a brand that creates products rooted in functional workwear, worn by an audience that defies categorisation.

Active Jacket details 1 Active Jacket details 2 Active Jacket Patch

Today, 50 years on, the Active Jacket remains omnipresent within culture, rarely feeling out of place in the context of music, skateboarding, cinema, or subculture. Regardless of setting, this artefact remains largely unchanged, even as new meanings and memories continue to be woven into its story. A distillation of authenticity and versatility, the Active Jacket continues to make its presence felt, as the years and decades roll on.

Active Jacket extra detail 1 Active Jacket extra detail 2 Active Jacket extra detail 3

The Anniversary Edition OG Active Jackets will release on Thursday 30 October Route One.

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