Painters wear white pants. There's a thousand stories about why — easiest to spot a drip, leftover from house painters using cheap pre-bleached duck, a union signal, etc. The real reason at this point is: it's tradition and the customer expects it. A painter walking into a Park Slope brownstone in tan Carhartts looks wrong. A painter in white painter pants looks like a painter.
The pant: Dickies 1953 Painter's Utility Pant, white, 12.5oz cotton. This is the standard. About $35. We sell more of these than any other painter pant. Lock-in side seam pockets, hammer loop, ruler pocket. Pure cotton because cotton dries faster when you splash thinner on it and doesn't melt under a heat gun.
The Stan Ray painter's pant is a small upgrade — a little nicer cotton, a little better tailored, twice the price. Mostly bought by guys doing high-end interior residential. The Round House Painter's Pant is the made-in-USA option, double the Dickies' price, lasts three times as long.
Avoid stretch painter pants. Spandex melts under a halogen work light or a heat gun. Pure cotton or cotton/poly only.
Shirts: a white tee or a light grey. The Carhartt Force short-sleeve in white is what we move. Long-sleeve in summer is hot but it keeps spray and roller mist off your arms — for spraying, it's worth it. For brush and roller work, a tee is fine.
Boots: this is where a lot of painters go off the rails. They wear sneakers because they're cheap. Then they fall off a 6-foot ladder in a stairwell. A real painter's shoe is a low-profile work boot or a work shoe with a real sole. The Skechers Workshire Relaxed Fit (steel toe) is a popular budget choice. The Wolverine Floorhand 6-inch in light brown is a real boot at a painter price. The Timberland Pro Powertrain Sport is the one for the guys who really want a sneaker fit but a real safety toe.
"A painter walking into a Park Slope brownstone in tan Carhartts looks wrong."
Soles get paint on them and you don't want to track it onto a customer's hardwood. Most painters keep two pairs — one for outside/exterior work, one for interior, and they swap on the job site. A pair of cheap shoe covers in the truck is also a move.
Gloves: nitrile disposables, by the box. We stock 7-mil nitrile in 100-count boxes. Latex tears, vinyl is too loose. For solvent work — lacquer thinner, MEK, mineral spirits — use a Showa NSK24 chemical-resistant or the Ansell Sol-Vex. Regular nitrile disposables don't stop solvent.
Respiratory: a 3M 8210 N95 for sanding drywall and old paint. A 3M 7500 half-face with 6001 organic-vapor cartridges for spraying solvent-based finishes. If you're spraying a lot, a hood with forced air is the right answer but that's a $400+ purchase.
Eye pro: ANSI Z87 wraparound, clear or yellow tint depending on light. Spraying overhead, a face shield is a good move because you cannot wash spray paint out of your eyes.
Knee pads for floor work — refinishing baseboards, glazing windows, anything you're kneeling for. Same Klein or ToughBuilt pads we sell to plumbers.
Hat: a painter's cap. Stan Ray makes them. Yes, it's a cliché. It also keeps roller mist out of your hair, which you'll appreciate the first time you don't get a streak of off-white through your beard.
Painter pants will be ruined in a season. That's the deal. Buy them cheap, replace them every 4 months, and don't try to make a $60 pant last.