Beloved Boot Maker Danner Makes Apparel, and It's Honestly Really Good

Why Danner Got Into Apparel

Given my love for the company, I was intrigued when I first spotted a few apparel pieces on their website last year, then watched it grow into a full-blown, ready-to-wear offering. From GORE-TEX windstopping jackets to fleeces durable enough to stand on their own, denim shirts tough enough for a woodshop class, and double-kneed pants you could hand down to your grandchildren, the range is no joke. But why entertain the idea of making clothes to go with the company's footwear? Boots that good don’t exactly need a supporting apparel collection.

A lot of brands are branching out—Red Wing, Merrell, and even Timberland, with its latest clothing collaboration with BEAMS Plus. When I first saw Danner offering apparel, I thought, I hope this matches the quality of the company’s boots. With some brands extending their footprint into apparel, it doesn’t always work. It often feels half-hearted, or worse, like a complete afterthought. But last year, I tried one of their fleeces, and I was sold.

I liked that the fleece has some heft (17.6 oz), the fit is relaxed but not baggy, and there’s a key loop made from a Danner boot lace that ties the apparel and footwear lines together. The price point lines up with the boots (as in, it’s high) but the quality and fit are genuinely good. As a self-professed Levi's 501 obsessive and someone who’s constantly writing about chore coats and soft-boy loafers, I was surprised—and I felt compelled to dig into the rest of the collection.

How does a 100-year-old brand translate a heritage footwear ethos into clothing? Longevity and function, plain and simple. “We wanted to create garments that would feel like a huge score if you found them in a thrift store decades from now,” Yoji Kaneda, director of lifestyle apparel and footwear at Danner, tells Field Mag.

Although the company has been steadily ramping up its apparel arm, this didn’t happen overnight. Danner secured a GORE-TEX license for garments back in 2011, but didn’t yet have the resources to make rain jackets that could handle inclement weather. As the brand expanded its hiking and lifestyle categories, the focus shifted. “We started to make products that weren’t all about getting to the peak or being extreme,” Kaneda says. Essentially, gear for everyday, not just summiting mountains are hauling logs.

What’s most notable about the apparel collection is its balance: it’s neither overly synthetic nor aggressively outdoorsy. A big part of that comes down to where and how it’s made. While overseas production is unavoidable, Danner leans on strong partners: its own Portland factory (where leather is sourced for select pieces), Mount Vernon Mills in South Carolina for denim, and UK-based Halley Stevensons for the waxed exterior of a Coaches jacket, which also has insulation from Primaloft. As Kaneda puts it, “I own many great vintage pieces that were made in the USA, and there’s a nostalgia there as well.”

Firsthand Impressions

Out of the 108-piece collection, a few standouts rise to the top: the Larch Mt Denim Shirt, Kenton Double Knee Pants, and the Woodsman GTX Jacket. I took my usual size (small) in the tops, and the fit is spot-on.

Recently, I've been wearing the denim shirt in heavy rotation. It’s substantial enough to wear in springtime temperatures that swing from 50 to 70, almost like an overshirt, but it also layers easily when temperatures drop in fall and winter. The shirt is cut from 10-ounce American-grown cotton, with reinforced patch pockets and zig-zag stitching at the inner collar, a detail you might recognize if you've got a taste for the most coveted vintage denim jackets.

The shirt also happens to be one of Kaneda’s favorites: “There’s a lot of premium selvedge denim in the world, but I really like the practical, durable denim that Mount Vernon makes,” he says, adding, “It reminds me of the work shirts from the ’60s.”

Photo by Leon Hedgepeth

As for the double-knee pants, I sized up to a 32, and they fit just right. They wear like a classic pair of Carhartts, relaxed through the leg with a slight taper toward the leg opening. The silhouette stays true to traditional workwear, built for ease of movement. They’re probably the lightest workwear pants I own, thanks to a breezy herringbone fabric that carries well from spring through early fall. The relaxed cut works equally well with boots or sneakers and won’t feel overly baggy if you’re after something in the straight-to-relaxed lane.

Then there’s the Woodsman GTX Jacket—my favorite piece in the entire lineup. There's a recycled GORE-TEX fabric on the interior and a leather collar from Danner's factory. “I have never seen leather used in GORE-TEX jackets, but most of our GORE-TEX shoes are made with leather,” Kaneda says, and that idea became the foundation for the design. Along with the leather detailing, the jacket is waterproof, loaded with pockets, and features a stowaway hood. “We opted to add a detachable hood for versatility, but I think this jacket really showcases the PNW’s rugged mentality and Danner’s focus on materials and function.”

Build Clothing Like Boots

Danner's apparel philosophy is refreshingly straightforward. “We want our products to be worn as long as possible," says Kaneda. "We don’t want them to break down easily or end up in a landfill because they’re no longer in style.”

And that’s the throughline: with a focus on fabric, construction, and timeless design, these clothes are built to age gracefully, not trend-cycle themselves into oblivion. Just like the Mountain Lights, one of the brand’s greatest hits, they’ve transcended cyclical fashion, and I see the apparel having that same staying power. It leans heritage with a slight dose of performance and doesn’t subscribe to whatever’s happening in the broader fashion world.

As a PNW brand, “being outdoors is part of our lives,” Kaneda adds. And with this ongoing rollout, Danner’s apparel doesn’t just complement the boots—it earns its place right alongside them.