Conservatives lashed out at Carhartt after the company said staff had to get vaccinated

• Some conservatives say they’ll boycott Carhartt after it doubled down on its vaccine mandate.
• The company is requiring workers get the jab even though the Supreme Court blocked Biden’s mandate.
• “Went from ‘Buy Carhartt’ to ‘Bye Carhartt’ real quick!” Ashley St. Clair tweeted.

Conservatives have lashed out at apparel maker Carhartt on social media after the company doubled down on its vaccine mandate.

After the Supreme Court Thursday blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-testing mandate for employees of private businesses Thursday, CEO Mark Valade told Carhartt staff that the company’s own vaccine mandate would stay in place.

“We put workplace safety at the very top of our priority list and the Supreme Court’s recent ruling doesn’t impact that core value,” Valade said in an email to staff Friday, per a copy of the email that was published on social media. A Carhartt spokesperson confirmed the posted email’s contents to The Washington Post.

“We, and the medical community, continue to believe vaccines are necessary to ensure a safe working environment for every associate and even perhaps their households,” Valade said.

“An unvaccinated workforce is both a people and business risk that our company is unwilling to take,” Valade added.

The spokesperson told the Post that the company was aware that not all staff supported the vaccine mandate. “However, we stand behind our decision because we believe vaccines are necessary to protect our workforce,” they said.

After copies of Valade’s email were shared on social media, the news quickly went viral, and some opponents of vaccine mandates have threatened to boycott the company.

“Went from ‘Buy Carhartt’ to ‘Bye Carhartt’ real quick!” Ashley St. Clair, a right-wing author and former Turning Point brand ambassador, tweeted. She also tweeted “#cancelcarhartt” and said the company’s vaccine mandate amounted to “medical tyranny.”

Dana Loesch, a right-wing radio and TV host, former National Rifle Association spokesperson, and former Breitbart News writer, questioned Carhartt’s mandate and said in a tweet that the vaccine “doesn’t prevent transmissions.”

Real-world data from across the world shows vaccines protect people from getting sick from COVID-19. UK health officials said Thursday that vaccine protection against hospitalization, after a booster dose, was around 85% to 90% for people infected with the Omicron variant.

Blaze TV host Elijah Schaffer said that Carhartt was “subjecting their employees to medical abuse” and urged his followers to stop buying the brand’s products.

And Jeremy Hambly, the creator of the YouTube channel The Quarterling which has more than 1 million subscribers, tweeted that he spent “thousands” each year on Carhartt clothing but would now stop buying from the brand.

“Seriously, this is insane given their target market,” Hambly said. Carhartt largely makes work clothing for manual laborers, though it has since become popular among younger shoppers.

“I am done purchasing any of their stuff and giving them thousands in free advertising,” Hambly added, referring to how he wears the brand’s products in his videos.

Carhartt did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment outside of normal working hours.

But other Carhartt customers said on Twitter that the company’s policy had bolstered their support for the brand.

“Way to go Carhartt,” said one Twitter user who said he was a heavy highway carpenter and had been buying work clothes for the brand over the last 30 years. “Real men wear Carhartt and get vaccinated.”

“Thank you for not making this issue political and for believing in science,” another Twitter user said.