The use of softshell fabric in clothing meant to withstand rough conditions wasn’t new, at least for sport and outdoor apparel brands. TRUEWERK's founder Brian Ciciora, a lifetime climber and skier, was very familiar with similar styles of climbing pants. He’d spent enough winters building homes in the Colorado mountains to grow tired of watching his denim or canvas pant legs freeze and thaw throughout the day, wondering why there was a lack of modern fabrics in workwear apparel.

“In 2015, my experience in the trades led to the frustration of the severely lacking technical performance of American workwear,” Brian says. “I knew the emerging fabric technology used for outdoor apparel could benefit an underserved market: the American trade professional. If you go back 150 years to when Levi Strauss patented the rivet, workwear was the most technical apparel in the United States, but the industry hasn’t kept up with advancements in modern fabrics. It’s our mission to bring workwear back to that gold standard in apparel performance.”

 

Bringing Softshell to the Jobsite

During a trip to Europe, Brian noticed trades professionals wore workwear more similar to gear he wore climbing and skiing. He thought the tough but stretchy softshell fabric of his climbing or skiing pants would be perfect for the rigors of general construction. Combined with the knowledge that other countries were already using these technical fabrics on the job site, the idea for the T2 WerkPant was born. 

 

A Step Above Cotton and Canvas

Typical work pants on the market are made from 100% cotton in a non-stretch canvas weave. While they’re decently durable, they lack stretch, are bulky, have limited performance benefits, and absorb water—drying slowly and weighing you down.

“The magic of the T2 WerkPant lies in our proprietary double-woven softshell material, which enables us to combine two very different surfaces into a single layer of fabric," Brian says. "Exceptionally soft on the inside and tough and water-resistant on the outside.”

Truewerk’s T2 fabric is tightly woven on the exterior for abrasion, wind, and water resistance, while the inside is woven more loosely for comfort next to the skin. Instead of cotton, we use a unique blend of yards: Nylon on the exterior adds tear and abrasion resistance, Polyester on the interior for comfort, and Spandex throughout for complete stretch. This blend of synthetic fibers absorbs less than a fourth of the water that cotton does and dries much faster. The exterior also gets a DWR treatment, so water beads up and rolls off.

 

A New Standard for Performance

The T2 WerkPant was engineered with the modern trades professional in mind—the need for athletic movement, a great fit without restriction or bagginess, the ability to handle challenging environments and weather, and comfort that lasts all day. Three times the strength of traditional workwear fabric combined with unparalleled comfort, protection, mobility, and fit creates a high-performance product that helps trade professionals feel confident and capable on any job site.