Wrangler History Timeline

Company Profile

This page is the record, not the storefront: the year-by-year timeline below is the history this directory has kept for Wrangler, and the current brand profile - what Wrangler sells today, and the shop box - sits on the main Wrangler page linked in the chips below. The timeline ends where the modern story begins, with Kontoor Brands' ownership from May 2019.

1897: Twenty-year-old C.C. Hudson leaves Spring Hill Farm in Williamson County, Tennessee, and makes his way to Greensboro, North Carolina, seeking his fortune in the emerging textile industry. He finds work in a factory making overalls, where he earns 25 cents a day sewing on buttons. 1904: Hudson's workplace closes. He and a few others buy several of the sewing machines, lease space above a downtown grocery store and incorporate as the Hudson Overall Company.

1919: The business builds its first factory on South Elm Street in Greensboro and changes its name to Blue Bell Overall Company. Legend has it that a group of railroad workers who bought overalls at the Hudson store gave C.C. Hudson a bell, and after spending time in the factory, the bell - like everything else - became covered in blue denim dust, hence 'Blue Bell'. 1936: Blue Bell launches Super Big Ben Overalls made out of 100% Sanforized fabric that reduces shrinkage after washing to less than 1% - a new standard for the industry.

1943-1974: The Cowboy Jean Is Born

1943: Blue Bell acquires the Casey Jones Work-Clothes Company and the rights to a rarely used Casey Jones brand name: Wrangler. 1946: Blue Bell starts to develop a jeans line for cowboys, hiring famous tailor Rodeo Ben. Blue Bell workers take part in a contest to give the jeans a brand name - the winning name is Wrangler, synonymous with the name for a working cowboy.

1947: After designing and testing 13 pairs of prototype jeans, Blue Bell introduces the Wrangler 11MWZ to American consumers. The jeans featured several innovations aimed particularly at cowboys: felled outseams and inseams, rear pockets positioned for comfort in the saddle, 'no scratch' rivet pocket reinforcement, a zipper fly, and use of a strong tack in the crotch instead of a metal rivet. A promotional campaign is launched featuring 11MWZ test riders and rodeo legends Freckles Brown, Bill Linderman and Jim Shoulders. 1952: Lot number 11MWZ is renamed 13MWZ to conform to the 13 oz. per yard denim weight being used to manufacture the style - the designation the Cowboy Cut still carries.

1962: Blue Bell opens a factory in Belgium and the Wrangler brand name enjoys a successful launch in Europe - the start of the separate European story told on the Wrangler Europe page. 1973: Wrangler jeans become an icon of youth culture, synonymous with teenagers the world over. 1974: The Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association of America (PRCA) officially endorses Wrangler Jeans.

1983-2019: VF, and Then Kontoor

1983: Wrangler sponsors European football champions Nottingham Forest F.C. 1986: Blue Bell merges with the VF Corporation of Pennsylvania, preparing the ground for the global success of the Wrangler brand. 1996: One of every five pairs of jeans sold in America is a Wrangler. 1997: The 50th anniversary of the 13MWZ - a Special Collectors Edition of the 13MWZ is created to celebrate the event.

2000: The 'Whatever You Ride' television ad campaign is launched, focusing on core brand values. 2001: Wrangler commences making its jeans in Mexico. 2002: 'There's a bit of the West in all of us' - a TV and print campaign staying true to Wrangler's unique heritage while shifting it to a modern European setting. 2004: A new European print campaign, 'Wanted', and the centenary of denim manufacturing, marked by Blue Bell by Wrangler, a limited edition collection reproducing the first Wrangler jeans down to the last detail, sold only at selected premium stores; the mainstream collection is reworked with new fits using icons inspired by the very first jeans designed by Rodeo Ben, and the brand is recognized in 22 European countries. 2005: Wrangler's last U.S. sewing plant is closed. 2011: Wrangler conducts a consumer design competition to find the next thing in jeans; the winner, Song Anh Nguyen of Greensboro, had her design produced by Wrangler and made available for sale. 2019: Wrangler is spun off from VF to Kontoor Brands - the ownership the brand keeps today.