Contemporary British-Made Men's Overalls & Dungarees — Voted by the Community

Overalls and dungarees began as protective work clothing. The word overalls was in use by 1782 for sturdy, loose trousers worn over other clothes, and by the late 1890s it also described canvas trousers with a bib and straps, worn by workmen to keep off wet and dirt. Dungaree started as the name of a cloth. English records from the early seventeenth century use it for a coarse calico from India, from the Hindi dungri, a name said to come from a village that is now part of Mumbai. By the 1860s the word was also used for trousers made from the cloth. Usage differs on each side of the Atlantic. In British English, dungarees usually means trousers with a bib and shoulder straps, the garment North Americans call overalls or bib overalls. The practical features of the original workwear, such as strong seams, deep pockets and adjustable straps, carried over as these garments moved into everyday wardrobes. British-made overalls and dungarees today are still cut from hard-wearing cotton and twill.