It was 2020 when we put our hands on this project. It was also when Ryo joined TCB and right after he joined (he may be cheeky), he showed me his vintage Wrangler jacket telling me " Hajime, let's make this jacket that John Lennon loved!"
It seems his love towards the Beatles and John Lennon comes from his dad. He's now our guy to spread the attraction/ charms of what we make globally but his motivation to study English in the first place was to understand the Beatles lyrics. Ryo's dad visited New York in 1981 to pray for John after John Lennon left the world. In front of Dakota House, he bought a post card of John Lennon and he stills cherishes the photo till today.
I myself love the Beatles and John and used to collect the Beatles records. You might know this if you have visited us because our store is full of the Beatles records. John was my icon and Wrangler jacket worn by John always looks fresh and cool. I feel there's some charm in Wrangler that Levis don't have.
By the way, 2020 was the 80th anniversary year for John's birth, and the 40th anniversary after his death. Forcefully linking myself to this anniversary year, it was when I turned to 40 year old so I felt almost destined to make Wrangler repro then. The result is so TCB but it took more than 2 years to release though...
■Fabric
We have developed many Levi's repros and one Lee model so far but it was actually first time for TCB to produce left-hand twill denim fabric. We could not make use of the accumulated know-how, knowledge so far so we started the product development from the scratch. Wrangler is the big 3 brands in the American denim history but compared to the other 2, the history is relatively shorter, starting from 1975 under the name of Wrangler. While I was doing a research on their vintage, the ads, etc, I found an interesting page on the Gimmie Book.
A kid dressed in the cowboy style says
"Mom likes 'em 'cause they're sanforized, says they're so easy to wash."
This was a proof that Wrangler's fabric is sanforized so thanks to this little kid, we have done the fabric right! It's a left hand twill, 11.6 oz fabric with yarn count 9 for both the warps and wefts.
According to my research, the Wrangler's art number for this model, 11MW, comes from the fact that the fabric used on this model was 11oz. Because it's left hand twill, the angle of the weaving becomes a bit steeper than right hand twill because of the construction of the vintage shuttle loom machines, which will lead to rather some waterfall fade (vertically faded) than dotty fade seen on Levis. Speaking of the sanforizing process, it consists of 3 different processes: Anti-twisting, anti-shrinkage, and singeing (burning the fluffy hairs on the surface of fabric). Looking at the vintage Wrangler of the 50's, the legs twist strongly so we have only done the anti-shrinkage process for this fabric. So, it's like half unsanforized and half sanforized!
■Detail
Speaking of John and Wrangler jeans, there are not so many pictures of John wearing a specific model of Wrangler so this time I have picked up the rarest and the coolest model released so far from Wrangler. It's the proto type jeans made in the late 40's that we referred to for the reproduction this time.
I assume some would say it's a pity but the selvedge is not used on this pair because the out seams are finished with the lap seams like overalls even though the fabric itself has the selvedge. (if you see the jacket, it proves that the fabric itself has the selvedge). You might find it a bit boring but as you wear it's going to show the strong puckering fade so you can enjoy the fade there in a different way!
Looking at the rivets on these jeans, they are attached from the inside. (Usually we attach any rivets on any jeans from the outer side because it's much easier) Maybe this was also a part of differentiating Wrangler from the pioneers' riveting such as Levis' concealed rivets or Lee's thread rivets but it is indeed more difficult to do from the inner side so that I've found many Wrangler vintage jeans with the rivets attached in the wrong place as I studied more for this reproduction. By the way, I've had many complaints from our crews too reg this rivets saying it's harder than it looks.
I have studied old ads too and have found out an unique sewing detail that can't be seen on any Levi or Lee. Please look at the picture No: 5, you see the lap seam on the back yoke and the back body there. For most of the jeans, the back body sits on the yoke but on this Wrangler jeans, it's the opposite: the back yoke sits on the back body. Please check the lap seam there on all the jeans you have. I think most of the jeans are not sewn in the way it was sewn for Wrangler. Then, why did Wrangler do this?
Wrangler was the work wear for the real cowboys so each detail has its own reason like the ones of military wear. The little gap made by the lap seams work as drop-proof when riding a horse. Due to the difference of the construction, it makes the look a bit more sharp than Levis or Lee? but this might be subjective though.
The ads also put an importance on the more useful coin pocket. The placement of the coin pocket is higher and the opening is much wider for the Wrangler coin pockets. The aim was of course for cowboys. Wrangler did this detail thinking about the usability when riding a horse.
Looking at the finish on the crotch or on the fly, the overlock stitch is common for jeans but all the finish on Wrangler jeans is very neatly done, not showing a single overlock stitch. It doesn't make a difference for the durability I guess but people must have had a good impression on this since it looks so neat inside. Wrangler was a later comer to the scene so this might have been another differentiation point for Wrangler.
■Size Chart
The size chart is in the picture section. We have taken the measurements from the actual jackets after the factory wash.
■Surprise
This is the first denim product to be released in our 10th anniversary year so we wanted to do something surprising for our customers. Unfortunately, John's not with us anymore so we can't hear his words about jeans or Wrangler but there's a perfect person to speak about the Beatles & Fashion/ John Lennon & Wrangler.
If you are a Beatles fan, you of course have heard of his name but we have done an interview with Mr. Tony Bramwell.
For those who don't know him, Tony Bramwell grew up in Liverpool with Beatles George, Paul and John. He was always a key Beatles insider, working first for manager Brian Epstein at their management company NEMS and then for The Beatles at Apple where, amongst other projects, he organized the Magical Mystery tour. He is also, like so many of that generation, a key denim fan, who’d source American denim from wherever he could. He was the perfect person to speak about his friend John’s iconic Wrangler jacket.
”If you want to know anything about The Beatles, ask Tony Bramwell. He remembers more than we do." Paul McCartney
As for this interview, we plan to post it on our blog on 24th April. TCB is just a small denim brand of 10 people in the very rural town, Kojima, so even we have never expected that something like this would happen. We are very grateful for the connections and the relationship which making jeans have brought to us!!
■Special Thanks
Mr. Christian Erickson, the master of meow-related puns!
