We sell both. We move a lot of both. Customers ask which is better and the honest answer is they're built for different guys.
Carhartt is heavier. The duck canvas on a Carhartt double-front is roughly 12 oz; Dickies' equivalent is lighter cotton-poly. Carhartt holds up to abrasion longer — concrete guys, framers, anyone kneeling on rough surfaces all day will get more weeks out of a Carhartt pant. The trade-off is weight. In July on a Staten Island roof, that 12 oz canvas feels like punishment.
Dickies is lighter, cheaper, and washes more times before it dies. The 874 work pant has been the same pant for 50 years for a reason — it's a $35 pant that survives a restaurant kitchen, a warehouse, a paint job. If you ruin pants every six months because of bleach, grease, or sparks, Dickies is the math.
"Carhartt's the cold-weather pant. Dickies is the hot-kitchen pant. Both ring up at our register every day."
Fit is the other split. Carhartt fits like a North American work pant — room in the seat, room in the thigh, designed to layer over a thermal. Dickies fits trimmer through the leg, especially the 873 slim-fit. Tradesmen who want to look like a tradesman generally pick Carhartt; cooks, mechanics, and anyone who wants the cleaner line pick Dickies.
Where Carhartt clearly wins: outerwear. The detroit jacket, the chore coat, the bibs — there's no real Dickies equivalent that's holding up the same way after three winters. Where Dickies clearly wins: the price-to-replacement ratio on a pant that's getting destroyed.
If you're outside in weather and abuse, Carhartt. If you're inside, on your feet, and going through pants like socks, Dickies. Most of our crew customers run both — Carhartts for the framers, Dickies for the labor.