The ANTecdote
The Ultimate Workwear Clothing Guide for Hard Workers
Whether you're ranching, farming, landscaping, welding, building, gardening, or simply tackling long days outdoors, the right women's workwear can make all the difference. Good workwear isn't just about comfort. It's about safety, durability, mobility, and having gear that can keep up with the demands of the job. If you're investing in women's workwear, here's what to look for before you buy. Start with Durable Work Pants A good pair of work pants is the foundation of any women's workwear wardrobe. The best women's work pants should break in over time, not break down. Look for features like: Durable canvas or duck fabric (shop our 12oz cotton canvas pants here) Reinforced seams Double-front construction Functional pockets A gusseted crotch for mobility A fit that allows you to move comfortably throughout the day These are all the features we prioritized when designing our Original Work Pants. Every design decision was made with hardworking women in mind. Built from 12 oz USA-made cotton canvas with reinforced seams, a gusseted crotch, functional pockets, and multiple fit options (straight vs. curvy), they're designed to stand up to demanding work while remaining comfortable enough to wear all day long. We believe women's workwear should work just as hard as the women wearing it. Shop them here. Build a Layer System Conditions can change quickly throughout the workday. Layering allows you to adapt without sacrificing comfort. A solid women's workwear layering system often includes: Merino wool or moisture-wicking base layers Durable work shirts Insulated vests Chore coats or work jackets Waterproof outer layers when needed The goal is versatility. The fewer times you have to stop working to adjust your clothing, the better. Don't Overlook Mobility One of the biggest mistakes people make when buying women's workwear is focusing only on durability. Yes, your gear should be tough. But it should also allow you to move. Look for: Articulated knees Stretch panels where appropriate Gusseted construction Room to squat, lift, bend, and climb comfortably The best women's workwear becomes something you stop thinking about because it simply works. Prioritize Functional Pockets Anyone who works with their hands knows the value of good pockets. At Red Ants Pants, pockets were never an afterthought. In fact, our founder Sarah often jokes that one of the easiest ways to tell whether a product was designed by someone who actually uses it is by looking at the pockets. Tiny decorative pockets? No thank you. Working women need pockets that hold gloves, phones, fencing pliers, notebooks, and whatever else the day throws at them. That's why our pants feature multiple utility pockets built with function in mind, because good women's workwear should help you get the job done, not create another frustration to work around. The Bottom Line The ultimate women's workwear wardrobe isn't about having dozens of options. It's about having a few dependable pieces you can trust. Look for clothing that is durable, functional, comfortable, and built for the realities of your work. Prioritize quality materials, thoughtful design, and products that will stand the test of time. Because when your workwear works, you can focus on what matters most: getting the job done. If you're looking for durable women's workwear, women's work pants, and work clothes designed by women who understand the demands of hard work, explore our collection of Original Work Pants and workwear essentials.
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From Classroom to Worksite: Lessons from a Textile Collaboration
The middle of Montana and the eastern edge of Louisiana may seem worlds apart, but when it comes to equipping women with gear that can keep up with them, we found common ground through a recent partnership with students in Louisiana State University’s textile and manufacturing program. For most of modern history, women in the trades have been asked to adapt - to tools, to job sites, and especially to gear that was never designed with them in mind. Ill-fitting workwear isn’t just an inconvenience; it’s a barrier to safety, performance, and belonging. At Red Ants Pants, we started with a simple premise: women deserve better. Increasingly, the next generation of designers is stepping up to meet that challenge with fresh thinking and real innovation. The timing couldn’t be more important. Women are one of the fastest-growing segments in construction, agriculture, and manufacturing. Yet the market has been slow to respond. For too long, “women’s workwear” meant smaller sizes and different colors, not a fundamentally different approach to design. Broader economic trends - what some have called the “She-conomy” - underscore the influence women now have as workers, consumers, and innovators. But real progress depends on more than demand; it requires people willing to rethink the status quo. That’s where education and industry partnerships come in. When students design for real customers with real needs, they learn how to identify gaps and build solutions from the ground up. They also learn something AI can’t replicate: the discipline of making a product that works in the real world. Materials have limits. Construction matters. The difference between a good idea and a great product is often invisible on paper but obvious in practice. One standout student design proved that point: an urban-inspired collection that still performed on a ranch, moving seamlessly from field to town without sacrificing function. It didn’t choose between form and function; it demanded both. At Red Ants Pants, we were founded to solve a problem: workwear that didn’t fit, function, or respect the women wearing it. That mission hasn’t changed. The future of workwear will be shaped by those willing to design with intention - and by a commitment to getting the details right where it matters most.
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On Leadership and Murmurations
On Leadership and Murmurations In a recent conversation with a wise friend of mine, David James Duncan, he brought up murmurations. He and Barry Lopez, another phenomenal writer shared similar reflections about how humanity should perhaps take some pointers from sandpipers. Have you ever seen a murmuration of birds? Where hundreds, sometimes even thousands of birds are in flight, and they shift collectively in waves of black across the sky. It is one of life’s great amazements. The instantaneous communication, the seamless ease and flow as if one greater organism. I have seen this phenomenon up in the Bay of Fundy, eastern Canada. Where tens of thousands of semipalmated sandpipers migrate through and stop to feed on the mud flats before their four-day, nonstop flight to Argentina. It is usually a peregrine falcon that comes torpedoing through a resting flock on shore that sends it into a murmuration. It is truly something to behold. From Barry Lopez, “The flock is carving open space up into the most complex geometrical volumes, and you have to ask yourself, How do they do that? The answer is, No one’s giving anyone else instructions. You look to the four or five birds immediately around you. You coordinate with them. The intricacy of that lattice means that one of the birds you’re using as a guide for your own maneuverings is itself watching the birds around it to coordinate its movements. There’s no leader. David and Barry’s suggestion caught and challenged my thinking on leadership. At the Red Ants Pants Foundation, we spend a lot of time and effort programming around leadership, specifically for teenage girls. But if we don’t need one leader, what do we need? Instead of one leader, what if we all had leadership skills? Instead of following one we could work with our neighbors towards a common direction of good? How do that many birds stay in tune with each other determining their direction and movements so rapidly? They seem to know each other, predict each other’s movements, they communicate effectively. They know their roles and what needs to be done. At our Red Ants Pants Foundation Girls Leadership Program, we teach different mind styles, communication styles, and leadership styles. We can have loud leaders and quiet leaders. Calm leaders and exuberant leaders, analytical leaders and creative leaders. We learn about different identities and about our own limiting beliefs. We think about our own fundamental values and what we believe in; how these values affect our place in the world. By the end of the year, we have all learned a lot about each other, and even more importantly, about ourselves. What if we all were a little more self-aware? What if we all took a little more responsibility with our leadership? What if all our leaders led with a little more compassion and curiosity? And truly looked to our neighbors, to the birds flying to our left and to our right to see how they are doing? Who can we take a little lift from and help them carry the load? Who needs a quick turn of protection from a predator? And so, it does seem we could learn from the sandpipers. And we can also learn from one another. We will keep working towards more leadership skills for all, and especially for girls and women. Onward. Written for the Women’s Foundation of Montana blog by guest writer Sarah Calhoun, Executive Director of the Red Ants Pants Foundation.
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Hearts
Hearts Artichoke and palm Valentines made by hand Hand over my heart Same hand pulling on your heart strings Strings of hearts hanging from the kitchen beam Boxes for life-long love letters Heart beats thudding fast A hummingbird’s heart beats 1260 times a minute Cross my heart and hope to die The Queen of Hearts Let’s shoot the moon Baby And come down in the heartland No change of heart here Feels like home Home is where the heart is Here’s to keeping up the heart work For it is, as always, heartfelt
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Calhoun’s 2021 Festival Welcome
Well, hello there! It’s really wonderful to be able to welcome you back to our favorite cow pasture, in person, together at last. We gather here to enjoy the good company of our friends and neighbors, to celebrate that we made it through a very tough chapter of our lives, and to celebrate our 10th year anniversary of enjoying live music together. We have much to be thankful for. A friend recently posed this question: “How are you making time for things that matter?” I was on a Smith River trip thinking about this and had lots of time to gaze up at the canyon walls to contemplate the things that truly matter. Family, rivers, community, my dog, leaving this world a little better than we found it, and of course, music. Photo by Eric Heidle How can we describe the value of music in our lives? What is it about songs that can help us heal? Music allows us to access the emotional side of ourselves that we don’t often make time to let in. It lets us feel deeply and perhaps most importantly, reminds us that we are not alone. Hearing about someone else’s experiences of hardship or joy invites us to reflect on our relationship both with ourselves and with others. It invites us to think about our place and purpose in this world. I posed this same question to several friends: “What is the value of music?” One particularly insightful 10-year-old named Willa summed it up well, “Music makes everything better. Like when I fight with my brother, all we have to do is put on our favorite song, and bam…we love each other again.” Music reminds us to be joyful, to dance! It says things we don’t know how to put into words. It steadies our souls. Music is the story that captures what it means to be alive. So here we are, gathered together to hear the songs that move us. As day slips into dusk, and the big Montana sky envelops our collective experience with grace and so much beauty, please take a moment to look around at these smiling faces. Let’s embrace this, and each other. Let’s lead with all the love we can possibly muster. Let’s take care of one another the best we know how. For it is this, our collective human experience, that truly matters. With so much love and gratitude, Sarah
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On Giving
This past week, we spent time selecting gifts from our beautifully stocked Red Ants Pants shelves for some folks who need a little extra joy this holiday season. In November, we asked our customers for suggestions of people they knew who had an especially tough year. The responses came pouring in. And I assure you, there has not been a dry eye in the place. Some of you lost your homes and all your belongings in wildfires. We understand that nothing can replace a home, but perhaps a new pair of pants and a carpenter pencil will give you some strength to start rebuilding. There are stories of single moms losing their jobs, of husbands serving overseas, of isolated elderly neighbors. There is a mom who has to drive her 12-year-old son across state lines five times a week for cancer treatments. We can’t cure your son, but a hoodie and some strong coffee may bring some warmth to your early mornings. But, perhaps most remarkable, were the Red Ants Pants customers who responded to our query by sending additional support in the form of donations, their own gift contributions, and even by returning pants they outgrew to pass along to someone else who can use them. Giving is contagious. There is no doubt that people are hurting out there. But we’re seeing an awful lot of love, too. And kindness. And joy…even if we have to look a little harder for it this year. So, here’s to lifting each other up the very best we can. In love, kindness, and joy, Sarah
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America
Dear America, I’ve driven across you four times in the past few months. Makes me wonder what you are thinking. Our wide-open plains, Great Lakes, Northern woodlands and the wise old Appalachian Mountains. What are you thinking of us these days? You have seen a lot happen over the centuries. The Blackfeet, Lakota, and Mohawk. The fur trappers, wagon trains, Lewis and Clark. Bison herds come and gone, elk and grizzly once roaming the prairies and now populating the timbered high country. The songs I played on repeat while driving remind me of the tremendous work and toil that has gone into building this continent. The Edmund Fitzgerald and The Canadian Railroad Trilogy. My Dad and I wore out the record player listening to Gordon Lightfoot a few winters back. “Living on stew and drinking bad whiskey” about sums it up these days. But when driving along Lake Superior these plays are a must. Iron ore, railroad empires, and engineering feats like the Mackinaw Bridge. And as she always does, Dolly brings me home. Light of a Clear Blue Morning is my new anthem. Let’s show these lakes and woodlands that there is a hell of a lot of hope for humanity. We have strong backs, strong minds, and strong hearts. We know how to build community. We know how to take care of one another. In love and gratitude, Sarah
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Harvest
These past few weeks I have been thinking about the harvest, turning to our gardens, farms, and fields for some grounding. On recent visits with friends I have been sent away with ripened tomatoes, onions and potatoes just pulled from the ground, pumpkins still on the vine. I have been able to spread my modest bounty of plump plums and crisp pears from my backyard orchard (…and yes, I use that word ‘orchard’ very generously). And driving across our rural spaces it is always something to behold, the great swaths of wheat, lentils, alfalfa. Corn and soybeans stretch as far as I can see while I’m bucking the sun heading East. Hoop houses, grain trucks, and combines with headers wider than my house. The amber waves of grain. Truly, a beautiful thing. In downtown White Sulphur you can hear the cows bawling in the stockyards as their calves have been recently weaned off for shipping. 4-H steers, hogs, and meat birds have been well raised, sold to the highest bidder at the local fair, and sent off for processing. Bow hunters have enjoyed a good harvest, and upland bird hunters have been sending their dogs across coulees to flush the pheasants and grouse. It’s a good season all around. How lucky we are to live in places where we can access this bounty. Where we have public land, water, and resources to be self reliant in our food systems. A huge thank you to all the farmers, ranchers, and gardeners out there keeping us well nourished. In the week since I first drafted this, a foot and a half of snow and -10˚ below temps haven’t crept in but blasted forth. Reminding us that we are still in Montana. And we still can’t control the weather. And that is a good thing. Rifle opener for deer and elk was on Saturday and the tracks are fresh. We hope your firewood stacks are deep, your hunting rifles are sighted in, and your harvest has been rich.
Learn moreA Letter To Our Community
A Letter To Our Community Dear Red Ants Pants Community, Years ago when I was an Outward Bound instructor I led several courses where I was the only white person, and the only female. On one particular course with a group of Black students from Philadelphia, we had a storm in the middle of the night. Once the lightning ceased, I went out to make the rounds. Not used to seeing me in form fitting long johns, one of the 12-year-old boys goes, “Ms. Sarah! You got a Black girl’s booty!” Fast forward to a Tour de Pants stop in downtown LA for a Women in the Trades show in 2009. A lovely curvaceous Black woman tried on Red Ants Pants for the first time. She exclaimed, “Damn! They even fit my booty!” Red Ants Pants fit Black women. They fit white women. They fit gay women. They fit straight women. They fit Asian, Hispanic, and Native American women. They fit farmers and ranchers. They fit gardeners and carpenters. They fit union pipe fitters and welders. They fit mothers, daughters, and grandmothers. They even fit men. Here at Red Ants Pants, integrity and courage are core values in our mission. The time has come to lean even further into these values. We stand in solidarity with Black and Indigenous people, and with all communities of color. It is time to work harder, for we have much learning to do.We commit to doing the work, doing the listening, doing the learning. We commit to partnering, supporting, and amplifying voices of color. We encourage our Red Ants Pants community to join us. In love and gratitude always, Sarah
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