SEDIMENTAL WORKS, 1975–2025
SEDIMENTAL WORKS is a special edition book examining 50 years of the Active Jacket and the culture that has formed around it.
Conceived in collaboration with ILL-STUDIO, it explores remnants of memory and themes of cultural continuity through the lens of a single garment – how it has endured five decades of cultural accumulation, immutable and unchanged, yet shifting in meaning between struggle and spectacle; a vessel for subculture and celebrity; protection and progress.
Featuring archival content, associative imagery and a socio-cultural exploration of the jacket’s history, SEDIMENTAL WORKS is built around a series of texts evoking a single year from the last five decades — spanning British seaside resorts and punk shows in basement bars; Parisian nightclubs and the Albuquerque Iron Range. Contributors include Scott King, Brad Phillips, Benjamin Krusling, Alissa Bennett, Lynne Tillman, Alex Quicho, Christelle Oyiri, Geoffrey Mak, Paul Dalla Rosa, and Chris Kraus.
The book serves as a memento of the recent SEDIMENTAL WORKS project showcased in London, which unfolded as an excavation site, contextualizing how the jacket has absorbed and reflected the world around it, from its inception through to present day.
The publication launches in Europe on December 1st at Carhartt WIP stores and select retailers, as well as at carhartt-wip.com and the Carhartt WIP App. North American and APAC release dates to follow.
The release of Sedimental Works will be accompanied by a series of events, spanning Paris, Antwerp, Barcelona, and NYC. Through sound, moving image and physical media, textual elements and the culture they attempt to trace, will be exhumed and reexamined through site-specific activations. These events will begin on December 4th, with a talk hosted at Carhartt WIP Store Antwerp featuring the book’s creators, hosted by Abel Kleinblatt.
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Contact
Federica De Carlo
fdecarlo@carhartt-wip.comAbout Carhartt Work In Progress
Carhartt Work In Progress (WIP) is a clothing brand that adapts and modifies the core products of the pioneering American workwear brand Carhartt to create its own collections. Established in 1994 by Edwin Faeh, the brand’s audience is just as likely to associate its iconic yellow C motif with late 90s hip hop videos or skate clips, as they are with factories or manual labor. This distinction is key in defining what Carhartt WIP does. Carhartt WIP engages with different cultural spheres: from Detroit and Berlin’s symbiotic techno scenes, to skateboarding and its communities that span Paris, New York, and Seoul, to the contemporary art world. The brand channels these influences, representing the culture which has formed around it. This can be seen and felt in its collections, its imagery, and its choice of partners and collaborators. Today, Carhartt WIP operates over 100 brick and mortar retail stores across Europe, Asia, and the US, as well as working with select wholesale clients.