Night-shift roofing is its own thing. The temperature drops eight degrees from sundown to 3 AM, you're working on a flat surface that radiates heat into the sky, and there's no insulation under your boots — you're standing on whatever decking you're tearing off or patching. We get a lot of commercial-roofing crews in November when they realize their summer kit isn't going to make it.
Boots are the first conversation. You cannot wear an aggressive lug pattern on a TPO or EPDM roof — you'll tear the membrane and your foreman will be fielding calls from the property manager all week. We point night-shift roofers to the Thorogood Soft Streets at $230 (the wedge sole is the right profile for membrane work), or the Red Wing Postman variants for similar reasons. Insulated wedge boots are rare. The Thorogood 814 wedge with 200g insulation at $260 is the closest thing to a perfect winter roofing boot we stock.
Bibs over pants. Always. Roofers bend over a lot, and a regular pant lets cold air down the lower back every time you reach for a roll of underlayment. The Carhartt Duck Insulated Bib Overall at $190 is the standard. The Yukon Extremes bib at $250 if it's going to be sub-20 with wind.
Headlamp matters more than the jacket. We don't sell headlamps directly, but we'll point guys to a hardware store for a Black Diamond Storm or a Petzl Tikka — anything 300+ lumens with a red-light mode for not blinding the foreman. A roofing crew working in shadow is a crew that misses fasteners. Misses-fasteners is callbacks.
Glove choice is unusual for night roofers. You need dexterity for fastening and torch work, but the hand stops moving for stretches of time on a flat roof when guys are spotting or holding flashing. We sell a lot of the Mechanix M-Pact ColdWork at $50 for night roofers — they're warm enough for the still moments and dexterous enough for the active ones. Heavy mitts are wrong. Bare hands are wrong.
Hi-vis at night is a different animal. Reflective material on the back, shoulders, and lower legs is the rule. Class 2 reflective bib-style hi-vis (like the Carhartt High-Visibility Class 3 Insulated Bib at $280) is what a lot of municipal-contract roofers run. For private work, a hi-vis vest over the jacket at $35 is fine.
One thing I'll add. We had a foreman come in three winters ago who'd lost a guy mid-shift to mild hypothermia symptoms — guy started slurring, foreman pulled him off and got him to the truck, no incident, but it scared everybody. The foreman stopped allowing guys on his roofs without a thermos of something hot. We don't sell thermoses, but if you're managing a night crew in winter, a hot drink at the half-shift mark is a gear item even if it doesn't show up on a receipt. The kit is the kit. Discipline is what makes the kit work.