While the jeans under the “Wrangler” brand and the first Wrangler logo were introduced only in 1946, the history of the company can be traced back to 1897, when C.C. Hudson, who was 20 years old back then, left Spring Hill Farm in Tennessee and moved to Greensboro, North Carolina. Here, he started working in a factory making overalls.
When his workplace closed in 1904, Hudson with his partners purchased several sewing machines and started the Hudson Overall Company. They built their first factory only in 1919. The company was renamed Blue Bell Overall Company.
In 1936, the brand introduced its Super Big Ben Overalls with reduced shrinkage.
In 1943, Blue Bell Overall Company purchased the Casey Jones Work-Clothes Company. Together with it, they got the legal rights for the brand name “Wrangler,” which had been used very rarely.
When Blue Bell began working on a jeans line for cowboys in 1946, a contest for a new name was held. The winning version was “Wrangler,” which was synonymous with the working cowboy.
The original logo was heavily inspired by the cowboy theme. The wordmark was formed by the cowboy lasso. This was one of the reasons why the company opted for a script imitating handwriting. It looked best in combination with the lasso theme as the whole word could be formed with a single string without the need for the gaps between the glyphs.
The logo had a prominent “W” with two loops, and there were additional loops on the “r’s.” The word “Wrangler” was not positioned strictly horizontally – its end slightly raised above the line. This created a dynamic and optimistic feel.
One of the earliest ads featured the wordmark in red with black trim.
While the overall style of the logo remained pretty consistent in the 1940s-1960s, there was some playing around with details. If you take a closer look, you will notice the letters looked slightly different and the angle at which the writing was placed was modified.
The design went through a complete overhaul. The updated logo seems to have nothing in common with its predecessor. It is heavier, with sharp elements. The most unusual letter is probably the “G” with its lower part made up of an open circle.
The company has been using this logo in the US ever since, while the international one was changed in 2011.
The international Wrangler logo was completely redrawn. The design was inspired by the original “handwritten” wordmark, although the lasso pattern was gone.