Page 19 - joa-feb-23

e
The paper flasher stapled to the right back pocket touted the iconic hot-iron branded
(twitch) leather label, sanforized denim (and reminded women to buy their correct
size because they would not shrink), and Lee’s Money-Back Guarantee. In 1948, Wrangler hired Jim Shoulders—who was on his way to becoming the
winningest rodeo cowboy ever—to be its spokesman in national advertisements.
Years later, after he had won the All-Around World Champion Cowboy title five
WRANGLER times, he commented, “I have been associated with Wrangler longer than anybody in
the company. I have outlived all the presidents and everybody else there.”
This hang tag shows both the Blue Bell and Wrangler logos.
In 1897, a 20-year-old C.C. Hudson
left his home in Williamson County, year, Jim Shoulders signed on as an official endorsee of Wrangler,
Tennessee, to seek fortune in the emerging making Wrangler the brand for western wear. By 1996, one of every
textile town of Greensboro, North five pairs of jeans sold in America was a Wrangler.
Carolina, where he found work in an over- This past year, Wrangler marked its 75th anniversary by curating a
all factory, sewing on buttons for 25 cents small collection of vintage (and pre-loved, because they’re made
a day. When his workplace closed, he and a post-2000) jeans appropriately titled Wrangler Reborn. Included in the
few others bought several of the company’s collection are The Wrangler 11MWZ and 13MWZ (Men’s Western
sewing machines, and C.C. Hudson and Zipper) cowboy cut jeans and the Cowboy Cut 0936, designed to the
his brother, Homer, formed the Hudson specifications of true cowboys and creating the brand as we know it
Overall Company, operating from a loft today. Wrangler Reborn also carries other vintage Wrangler style jeans,
Charles C. Hudson, founder above Coe Brothers Grocery on South Elm mostly in the $100 and up range.
of what was to become Street in Greensboro. Over the next almost
Wrangler jeans. 25 years, their company, renamed the Blue
Bell Overall Company, bought up and
consolidated with other textile companies, adopting along the way the
brand name Wrangler from one of the companies Blue Bell purchased.

This photo was taken in 1914 at the Blue Bell Overall Company in Greensboro, NC.
The story goes that they did a big business with railroad workers, who like the overalls so A small capsule of vintage (and pre-loved, because they’re made
much that the factory was gifted with a large brass railroad bell. The bell was located post-2000) jeans appropriately titled “Wrangler Reborn.”
within the factory and was soon covered with blue cotton dust.
How can you tell vintage Wrangler jeans? According to messina
In 1947, Wrangler authentic
western jeans, designed by hembry.com, look for the blue bell. This is the distinctive mark of
vintage Wrangler jeans. There should be a tag on the inside of the fly,
celebrity tailor Rodeo Ben, were and a bell etched into the back pocket. This iconic blue bell and “W”
introduced to the American are what best define the look of the brand, once intended for cowboys
consumer. Professional rodeo in rodeo races.
cowboys Jim Shoulders, Bill
Linderman, and Freckles Brown
wear-tested the 13MWZ, short GLORIA VANDERBILT
for the thirteenth version of
men’s western jeans with zipper, Gloria Vanderbilt was a woman of many titles: socialite, actress,
and endorsed the Wrangler designer, heiress, and mother … her fascinating life became fodder for
Wrangler’s first factory was opened in name for durability, quality, and the tabloids from a young age. After a modeling career that began at
1919 after merging with Blue Bell. authenticity. The following 15 years old and working as a stage actress in her 30s, Vanderbilt

February 202 3 17