Iron Forge work pants. Double knee and triple tough.
Iron Forge work pants. Double knee and triple tough.

I took an unexpected romp through Patagonia's website to find out that the company is in the workwear game (which is news to me, anyway), with a fleet of pants, jackets, and shirts. I thought I was going to plod through a few pages of this work jacket or those work pants and be done with it.

I thought I’d find a yuppi-fied weekenders line of knock-off jeans that cost rent. Not like these two-toned, multi-pocket Truwerks reviewed by AwesomeFramers.

Wrong.

First, the gear looks premium. It kills me as a certified cheapskate to pay $180 for a pair of pants, but Patagonia says the Steel Forge Denim pant is made with the strongest, most lightweight fiber in the world: 8% Dyneema and 92% organic cotton. The company says these are the last work pants you’ll ever buy. They are reportedly 25% more abrasion resistant than Duck and there’s no break-in period.

The Farrier shirt ($90) is made from 9-oz. 55% industrial hemp and 45% recycled polyester (solids), or 7.1-oz. 88% organic cotton and 12% industrial hemp (stripes). Fair Trade Certified—of course! It also looks like it’d be at home—and a great layer—on the jobsite.

And, for the Made in the USA-ers, it’s just that.

Farrier shirt
Farrier shirt
Iron Forge Hemp Jacket
Iron Forge Hemp Jacket

For the Iron Forge’s blue—typically made with synthetic indigo—more feel good materials and maybe a lesson? According to the video, synthetic indigo dye is made from petrochemicals. It takes more than a ½ pound of cyanide to make 1 pound of synthetic indigo. That seems worse than growing actual indigo next to the factory in Tennessee where these are made, which is what this company does.

There’s more to go into than there’s space for here, like the Iron Forge Hemp Canvas Ranch Jacket made of tough, comfortable, and highly abrasion-resistant 12.9-oz. 55% industrial hemp, 27% recycled polyester, and 18% organic cotton canvas, insulated with 100-g Thermogreen 100% polyester (92% recycled). Fair Trade Certified for $179.

Suit up. “Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.”