Wrangler® is an American clothing brand known for its iconic, timeless denim clothing and connection to western cowboy culture. With its high-quality products, the brand dresses young to old and every gender for everyday life.
origin
Wrangler® has its humble beginnings in Tennessee when founder CC Hudson lost his job in 1904 after his employer, an overalls factory, had to close. He buys some of the remaining sewing machines and starts the Hudson Overall Company with his brother. Over the next fifteen years the company grew and became so successful that in 1919 it moved to larger offices and changed its name to the Blue Bell Overall Company. Under the new name, the siblings launched their first well-known product, the 100% preshrunk fabric Super Big Ben jumpsuit, establishing it as the new industry standard. Today’s Wrangler® brand was finally formed in 1947, after Blue Bell had acquired a workwear manufacturer and with it its consumer brand Wrangler® a few years earlier.
Development
Over the next nineteen years through 1962, the Wrangler® brand tied into American cowboy culture and became recognized by consumers for its durability, quality and authenticity. This allowed Blue Bell to first successfully expand into Europe and later, in 1986, to merge with VF Corporation of Pennsylvania (VF). As a result, VF became one of the largest jeans manufacturers in the world, and ten years later Wrangler® had the largest market share in the United States. In 2018, VF split into two independent companies, VF and Kontoor Brands, Inc., with Wrangler® falling under the latter alongside other giants such as Lee®, Rock & Republic® and the VF outlet business.
Current
Today, Wrangler® is the #1 denim brand in the United States with sales of $1.7 billion as of the end of 2022. In the last quarter of 2022 Kontoor Brands launched a new, dual store concept for the two brands Lee® and Wrangler® and plans to expand this retail concept across Europe for expansion purposes.
