10 hours ago
Workwear meets fashion: Carhartt WIP launches Paris pop-up spotlighting iconic 'Heart' logo
Carhartt WIP, the lifestyle-driven European offshoot of American workwear brand Carhartt, has opened a limited-time pop-up inside Galeries Lafayette Champs-Élysées in Paris. Located on the first floor, the space will remain open through June 30, offering visitors a bold visual showcase centered around the brand's distinctive 'Heart' logo.
The pop-up highlights a modern reinterpretation of Carhartt's original branding from the 1920s, bringing the 'Heart' emblem to life through a curated selection of styles from the Spring/Summer 2025 and Pre-Fall 2025 collections. The logo appears across a range of pieces in the Drewe, Furoshiki, Arcan, and Heart II Hartt lines.
Designed as an immersive experience, the space incorporates industrial elements such as aluminum structures, red canvas, and custom-printed carpeting—echoing the brand's signature utilitarian aesthetic.
This initiative is part of Carhartt WIP's global retail expansion strategy. The brand recently debuted a hybrid café-store concept in New York at Nordstrom, combining branded design with a dedicated coffee bar under the WIP name. In Munich, it opened a second store in the city's Glockenbachviertel district—a 120-square-meter space featuring interiors inspired by traditional Bavarian architecture. Meanwhile, several Carhartt WIP stores in France have been redesigned to reflect a more premium retail concept aligned with the label's evolving identity.
While many fashion brands navigate an unpredictable market, Carhartt WIP has quietly emerged as a rare example of consistent growth. Its success reflects a clear, long-term strategy to evolve the American workwear legacy into a modern, lifestyle-driven brand with global appeal.
The brand is operated by Work in Progress, founded in 1994 by Edwin Faeh, which holds the exclusive global license to develop Carhartt outside the United States. Carhartt WIP first gained momentum in Europe by reimagining classic workwear through a street-culture lens—drawing from hip-hop, rock, and skateboarding. Since then, it has teamed up with high-end labels such as Sacai, Junya Watanabe, and A.P.C., while growing a global retail network of more than 100 stores across Europe, Asia, and the United States.
Carhartt WIP has moved into a significantly larger headquarters in Paris' 10th arrondissement as part of its continued growth. The new space reflects the brand's identity—located near Place de la Bastille, an area long associated with music and skate culture in the French capital.
The company is now led by Wilfried Atzert, a long-time executive who has been with the brand for over 20 years and has played a key role in every stage of its expansion.
