The trend has been around for a few seasons now, heralded early on by Allure which featured a pair of $300 Stardust coveralls by Maui label Sugarhigh Lovestoned in a 2016 issue, that have sold-out multiple times and are still, two years later, considered a street-style staple. It was also around this time that high-end fashion brand Vetements sparked a sensation by selling a $245 spoof replica of a DHL Express courier’s T-shirt.

For Calvin Klein’s Fall 2018 show, Raf Simons sent models out in orange fireman’s jackets while Temperley London traded her regular boho feminine aesthetic for a line of olive green military flight suits. If you go to an Urban Outfitters, you’ll likely find pants and overalls from Dickies, a company that has been producing performance workwear since 1922. And if you shop at Topshop or Asos any time soon, their copious boilersuit selection might entice you to let your inner garage mechanic out.

Not that workwear as fashion is anything new. Marie Antoinette often dressed as a milkmaid or shepherdess despite being queen. In the ‘90s, rappers popularized durable workwear brands like Carhartt and Timberlands. And don’t forget that denim — the cornerstone of modern casual wardrobes — was originally the fabric of manual workers’ overalls.

Of course, there are plenty of people who have to wear workwear for its intended purposes. Almost one-in-seven American workers wear medical scrubs, and the U.S. market is worth an estimated $10 billion. Given that medical professionals usually have to buy their own scrubs, it’s no surprise that they’re demanding more comfortable fabrics and on-trend details. FIGS is among the brands springing up to address this. Founded in 2013 after co-founder and co-CEO Heather Hasson had coffee with a nurse practitioner friend and was horrified by the scratchy, boxy scrubs she had to wear, FIGS now offers a contemporary range, including skinny and cargo style pants as well as joggers.

It’s the food industry, though, that has really lucked out. Never mind Michelle Williams’ Louis Vuitton cover look; the most covetable item in the September 2018 issue of Vanity Fair is a black jumpsuit modeled by New York chef Missy Robbins. In fact it’s so great that Robbins said she now prefers wearing the “chic Tilit jumpsuit” even more than her traditional chef whites.

A workwear brand for the hospitality industry that was launched by a husband-and-wife team in 2012, Tilit now clothes staff at the likes of Soho House and N.Y.C. restaurant Contra. The jumpsuit is a new addition to their range, a twill coverall with genius features including Sharpie slots, reinforced knees, and under-arm vents. Vogue magazine gave it the seal of approval when it launched, predicting that, “just as Carhartt has made its way from construction sites to street style slideshows, Tilit seems bound to go beyond the kitchen.”

What, then, is driving the current revival? For Erin Han, the owner of a vintage store in Los Angeles called East West that sells upcycled scrubs for $45, sustainability is a big factor. She’s drawn to workwear because of its durability; the fabrics, she says, are built to last — something you can’t often say about newly-made garments, which are often made quickly and cheaply.

“My business — as a sustainably-minded business — is sometimes based on opportunity,” explained Han, who used to wear scrubs as a teenager in the ‘90s. “I’m always looking for vintage workwear for our store. It’s classic, simple, functional, and built to last.”

But Han’s scrubs aren’t just hand-me-downs. They’re more unique than that. Sourced from a large unworn, vintage supply that she’d purchased, each piece in Han’s collection was altered and changed to make it even more unique. A visit to the garment dyer rendered the pants (originally a light cream color) different hues and made the fabrics less see-through. Afterwards, Han took the pieces to a tailor to have them cropped to an on-trend length. The end result is cool and contemporary, and just what you want to wear in a heatwave.