The men’s vintage workwear style has been growing steadily for many years. Vintage suits and ties are out and in come demands for more casual, more relaxed, more workwear inspired men’s 1950s clothing. While the amount of written information about 1950s workwear is minimal, my vintage catalog collection has helped provide some examples of men’s clothing worn by the working classes in “blue collar” jobs and weekend casualness.
Starting at the turn of the century and up to the 1960s, there was little change in men’s workwear styles. Materials, colors, and fit changed, but the overall style of workwear for common occupations remained the same. Overalls, coveralls, uniforms, and workwear separates made up the bulk of men’s vintage work clothes. A sturdy pair of work boots to finished the look.
1950s Vintage Workwear: Overalls
The fit of the coverall remained quite baggy from the 1920s to the 1940s, and slimmed down in the 1950s and 1960s to a fit you still see today. Both dark denim blue and white overalls were worn in the 1950s and even the hickory stripe or engineer stripe denim. White contrast stitching is the trademark of vintage denim workwear.
Overalls were worn over a heavy duty wool or cotton long sleeve work shirt. A matching button up light jacket shirt provided additional protection of the arms, as well as more pockets.
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- 1957 carpenters overalls
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- 1956 men’s overalls, with apron pocket
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- 1953 Denim Overalls
Vintage Men’s Workwear: Coveralls
An alternative to overalls were coveralls, also called wearalls or unionalls. These were preferred by mechanics, aviators, and factory workers who needed to keep clean without straps, pockets, and shirt cuffs that could get tangled in machinery. The coverall was a one piece pant and shirt combination that zipper up the front. Blue or striped denim, khaki twill, white duck cloth, or any neutral color of medium weight cotton provided a range of durability and hues. Two large chest pockets, side pockets, and sometimes a self fabric slide belt completed the style. The coverall could be worn over other work clothing or just over underwear in hot climates.
1958 men’s coveralls
Vintage Men’s Workwear: Matching Uniform Sets
For service oriented jobs that were not too dirty and required a uniformed appearance — such as gas station attendant, repairmen, gardener, delivery driver or shop keeper — a matching set of pant, shirt, and jacket was ideal. These uniforms could have a name tag or company name embroidered onto the shirt and jacket. The colors were lighter than overalls and coveralls, with olive green, khaki, tan, blue, grey, and green in the 1940s and 1950s. Cotton twill or light weight wool were used instead of denim.
1955 men’s work clothes
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- 1951 Men’s Workwear Uniform and Trousers
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- 1953 men’s work clothes in new colors
The work shirt looked like a men’s dress shirt with two chest button pockets and button up collar.
1950s Dickies Men’s Work Clothing Ad
1958 men’s work clothes (slimming down into the 60s)
The work pants were flat front with a creased leg and cuff up until the 1950s. Belts were almost always worn with 1950s workwear.
1951 mens workwear shirt, pants and jacket
The work jacket was a waist length zip-up jacket with two pockets on the front or side. The style is similar to a Harrington, bomber, of golf jacket. They were made in matching fabric to the pant and shirt for a unified uniform.
1957 men’s work shirt, jacket
The sporty varsity bomber jacket with striped ribbed cuffs and collar was a trendy new look in the mid 1950s. Jacket did not need to match pants with this look, although that was an option.
1955 Men’s work clothing or casual leisure clothes.
Men’s Workwear: Separates
Work shirt separates were made of heavy duty cotton twill, denim, covert (wool or cotton) or chambray. Blue was the standard color, with khaki, army green and sometimes black as alternatives. In winter, plaid was popular for the 1950s outdoorsman. Most work shirts had two chest pockets with a button down flap.
1950 Work shirt of heavy chambray blended with Nylon
1956 Work shirts in plaid denim, blue denim, zip up covert, and chambray
Work jackets, purchased as separates, were made of covert cloth, wool or dark denim. They could be lined in flannel or shearling in winter or unlined the warmer days. They came in the chore jacket style as well as the bomber jacket.
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- 1950 Men’s Work Jackets – Lined Chore Coats, Ike Jacket on Bottom Left
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- 1953 Men’s Work Jackets
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- 1950 Covert and Denim Jackets
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- 1951 mens bomber style jackets with fur or knit collard
Men’s work pants could be denim blue jeans, a sturdy wool or cotton twill, or corduroy with a fit to match the decade. Dark denim blue jeans were the only option for men’s workwear until almost the 1960s when colored blue jeans matched the palate of cotton work trousers. The fit was wide leg and high waisted with a slight taper at the shoe. As the decade progressed they grew narrower and slightly lower on the waist. Read the history of blue jeans here.
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- 1950 Dark Denim Blue Jeans
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- 1955 carpenter jeans
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- 1959 Slimmer Fit Blue Jeans
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- 1959 Light Blue, Wheat, and Navy Blue Work Jeans
Vintage Men’s Work Boots
Physical jobs required heavy duty boots for most occupations. Work boots from the teens onward had an overall similar style. Thick rubber soles with thick sole and a lace-up body that extended over the ankle and up over the calf. Rubber boots existed for wet jobs, but leather was good enough for most work environments. It wasn’t just cow leather. Horsehide and even kangaroo leather were deemed more durable. Shades of brown and black were the only options. In winter many boots were lined in shearling for warmth.
Less physical occupations called for sturdy work shoes- usually a moc toe oxford or a chukka boot. In the later years the tan colored cork rubber sole and lighter leather body started to emerge. The engineer boot remained a classic work boot, also popular with motorcycle riders (and rebel teens.)
1953 work shoes: ventilated oxford, moc toe oxford, chukka boot, Engineer boot
1954 men’s tall work boots (winter)
1958 cork rubber sole work boots and shoes
Putting Together a 1950s Workwear Look
For those of you reading this because you need a working class costume, here are some ideas on what to buy and where to find men’s vintage style workwear clothing.
- Overalls – There are a small handful of clothing companies that still make classic overalls. Blue denim overalls will be easier to find.
- Work Shirts – Dickies still makes most of their work clothing in classic cuts (1950s-1960s style) with matching pants and jackets. Their work shirts are also excellent.
- Denim Jeans – Levi’s makes reproduction jeans from the 1890s to 1960s. Some of them have a very vintage workwear look that I love (but not the high price tag). 1950s reproduction denim jeans are a little easier to find. They would work well for earlier decades as well. Shop here for all men’s style pants, overalls, and jeans.
- Jackets – Casual bomber jackets and chore jackets are back in fashion. Shop jackets here.
- Boots– Most leather workwear boots are still in the classic vintage styles. Justin Original and Red Wing have some of the best choices
Shop Vintage Style Workwear Clothing:
Debbie Sessions has been teaching fashion history and helping people dress for vintage themed events since 2009. She has turned a hobby into VintageDancer.com with hundreds of well researched articles and hand picked links to vintage inspired clothing online. She aims to make dressing accurately (or not) an affordable option for all. Oh, and she dances too.
