Carhartt Partners With Metallica to Support Skilled Trades Education This Labor Day
Carhartt, America's iconic workwear brand, announced Monday it's dedicating its Fall 2024 "For the Love of Labor" grant to support Metallica's All Within My Hands Foundation and its Metallica Scholars Initiative. Created by the members and management of Metallica, All Within My Hands is a nonprofit, philanthropic organization dedicated to supporting workforce education by connecting future workers with trade programs in their local community. Carhartt's $250,000 grant donation will benefit the foundation's Metallica Scholars program to support 60 community colleges across all 50 states. Funding provided by Carhartt will support not only school tuition at local community colleges, but also wraparound services like childcare and transportation to eliminate barriers that may prevent candidates from pursuing skilled trades education.
Total Retail's Take: Carhartt is continuing to help eliminate barriers and close the skilled trades gap. The partnership makes sense for the workwear brand — it's both making a charitable contribution to communities while also growing its potential customer base of skilled laborers who might want to buy and wear Carhartt products. This isn't the first time Carhartt and All Within My Hands have teamed up to support workforce development within the skilled trades. The organizations partnered on an initiative supporting women in skilled trades for International Women's Day in March 2024, and collaborated on a nationwide campaign aimed to recruit the next generation of trades workers for Labor Day 2021.
"All Within My Hands and Carhartt share a common mission to strengthen communities by closing the skilled trades gap," said Todd Corley, senior vice president of inclusion, sustainability and community at Carhartt. "We're proud to support the organizations that are inspiring the next generation of workers from diverse backgrounds by showing them how they can make their own history through the skilled trades."
Metallica's Lars Ulrich commented in the press release, "The importance of skilled trades education cannot be overstated, and we are immensely grateful for organizations like Carhartt that are making a meaningful difference by breaking down barriers and investing in the future of skilled labor."
Since its inception in August 2020, Carhartt's For the Love of Labor grant program has received hundreds of applications and awarded 24 grants — totaling nearly $2.7 million — to eligible U.S.-based 501©3 designated organizations in recognized apprenticeship industries that serve at least 100 individuals annually.
Kristina Stidham is the digital content director at Total Retail and sister brands Women in Retail Leadership Circle and Women Leading Travel & Hospitality at NAPCO Media. She is passionate about digital media and handles video, podcast and virtual event production for all brands. You can often find her at WIRLC, TR, WLT&H or industry events with her camera and podcasting equipment—or at home on Zoom—recording interviews with thought leaders and business executives.
Kristina holds a B.A. in Media Studies and Production from the Temple University Klein College of Media and Communication in Philadelphia. Go Owls! When she's not in the office, she loves to go on long walks, sing around the house, hangout with her family and two pet guinea pigs, and travel to new places.
