History of Wrangler jeans brand

Wrangler is one of the three most popular American jeans brands. And here is the story of how this brand was born.

It all stated in 1897 when a 20-year-old young man called S.S. Hudson came to a small textile town of Greensboro, North Carolina, to find a job. The first job offer Mr. Hudson managed to find was sewing buttons on a factory for 25 cents a day. And in seven years the factory went bankrupt. 1904 S.S. Hudson bought a couple of sewing machines, rented a room on the second floor of a grocery shop and registered his own company under the name of "Hudson Overall Co.". The company turned out to be quite a success and 15 years after its establishment it opened the first jeans manufacturing factory. Railroad men liked Hudson's creations to such extent, that they even presented him with a bell, which in course of time became blue because of small particles of indigo color. S.S. Hudson was inspired and renamed his company, which was then called "Blue Bell Overall Co.". 1926 he sold a successfully running company to a textile manufacture "Big Ben" for a hatful of money - 585 thousand dollars.



Six years later the new owner of the company presented new overalls "Super Big Ben Overalls", which would practically not shrink after washing. The overalls didn't lose their form and didn't become shorter, which caused a sensation in those days! It is not surprising that this event laid a foundation for modern standards of textile industry.



1943 the company bought another firm manufacturing overalls, "Casey Jones" together with the rights for a rarely used trademark "Wrangler" (which means "rancher"). The idea was to manufacture special cowboy trousers surpassing all competitors on the market. However, the conception was realized only in 1947, the official year of Wrangler jeans creation.



The breakthrough happened thanks to another textile innovation - broken twill denim. Such texture provided balanced structure of the fabric, which from now on no longer intertwined around cowboy's legs while wearing. Besides the new customized denim cloth turned out to be softer than traditional herringbone one. The jeans were designed by a famous cowboy tailor Rodeo Ben - Ben Lichtenstein - and were for the next two years advertised for by American rodeo celebrities like Jim Shoulders, Bill Pindermann and Frekless Brown. Three of them constantly appeared wearing 13MWZ jeans model by Wrangler, which happened to be the best advertising campaign ever and the most convincing argument for quality and originality.



Peculiarities of these designer jeans were dictated by their cowboy nature - they were meant for those who ride a horse. Waist cut prevented a shirt from riding up and trouser legs were a bit longer than normal which prevented them from coming up as well. Triumphant progress of new trademark started. 1974 custom tailored jeans by Wrangler were recognized as official clothes of "Rodeo cowboys association" in the USA.



However, the brand didn't want to limit itself with American market only. 1962 Blue Bell became the first American clothes company to open a denim factory in Europe. Wrangler jeans become here no less popular than in the USA: a year later "Newsweek" magazine calls European teenager "a surprise in Wrangler cover".



In 1996 each fifth pair of jeans sold in the USA was manufactured by Wrangler. Today the brand exploits not only the cowboy theme, but also Western roots and tradition. Besides, nowadays the trademark manufactures a line of clothes for hunters and sportsmen called "ProGear". A "W" letter embroidered on the back pockets has become to one of the most recognizable symbols in the world. In Europe the brand is represented in 22 countries. In the same way as before Wrangler embodies the spirit of explorers and pioneers, bright individuals, hardworking, free and self-confident - the true values of Western civilization (see getwear.com custom jeans articles).

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