Jim sent in a tip that Waterfield has come out with their first-ever waxed canvas workshop aprons (thank you for the heads-up!).
Waterfield is known for their USA-made bags, totes, gear organizers, wallets (I have one!), and other such products for personal items and electronic devices.
Now, they have a limited edition workshop apron.
The aprons are available in two colors – waxed brow canvas with dark leather straps, and waxed blue canvas with light brown leather straps.
The aprons are made from 15 oz waxed canvas and full-grain vegetable tanned leather. They measure 28.5″ long x 34″ tall.
Waterfield says:
All our products are crafted locally in our workshop by the most skilled sewing team in San Francisco.
I don’t own many Waterfield products, but the few ones I do have are very well-made of high quality materials.
I’ve had a couple of other items on my wishlist, but some of Waterfield’s products are a bit pricey and too much for me to justify.
These aprons are priced at $89 plus shipping ($7 ground being the cheapest option I see). This puts the aprons in “luxury” territory, but not “you spent HOW MUCH?” territory that fancy leather woodworking and shop aprons tend to be priced at.
We ordered one for review – I couldn’t pass it up. I’ve used (and greatly disliked) lower-priced aprons before, and am curious to see if this one is a lot better – hopefully it is.
There are a couple of pockets for small tools or related items, but I wouldn’t think the apron could stand up to carrying heavier tools. Maybe it’ll surprise us, but keep in mind that aprons aren’t designed to carry the types of tools you’d load into a tool pouch or belt.
Waterfield says this is a limited edition item that will only be available through October 31st, 2020. At the time of this posting, the order page says to allow 10 days before the aprons will ship.
Features & Specs
- 15 oz heavy duty waxed canvas
- Full-grain leather straps
- Double-stitched seams and riveted pockets for strength
- D-ring shoulder attachment for straps to swivel and land on shoulder
- Utility pockets: 2 hand pockets, 2 tool pockets, 1 mobile phone chest pocket
- Leather holders: 1 towel and 1 heavy tool
- Long back straps allows more flexibility and movement
- Apron can tie in the front or back.
- Cross-back straps relieve stress from neck
Waterfield says that aprons are made from the same canvas they use in their bags, and can be spot-cleaned with a damp cloth and freshened up with wax if necessary.
Price: $89 plus shipping
If you think this is too much to spend on an apron, definitely don’t look at how much leather woodworking aprons cost in comparison.
There are lower-priced aprons easily available at online retailers. For two examples, Dickies has a workshop bib apron priced at $19 at Amazon, and there’s a Vulcan Workwear waxed canvas apron for $30.
Yes, the Waterfield costs quite a bit more than these budget offerings, but it looks to be made from better materials, and it’s made in the USA.
See Also: Dickies Apron via Amazon
See Also: Vulcan Apron via Amazon
Industrial suppliers have general purpose aprons for low cost, and those are the kind that steered me away from wearing shop aprons. I’m giving this Waterfield a try because of good past experiences with this company’s small gear organizers, and because it looks like a good middle ground between low-durability fabric aprons and much higher priced leather aprons.
I also figured that if one reader sent in the new product tip (thank you again, Jim!), others might be interested in it as well.
I hope that this experiment works out well for Waterfield – there’s definitely a need for quality USA-made tool-related workwear and tool storage.
