Rikiya “Ric” Kanamaru has been collecting vintage Wrangler apparel since he was in junior high school in Japan. And he’s not shy about sharing some of the most valuable pieces in his archive with others. In fact, he even wrote a book about his collection last year, titled “Wrangler Archive.”
Now Kanamaru is joining the Wrangler brand at the first Wrangler Archives Gallery exhibition, where some of his most historic pieces, along with selections from the company’s archives, will be on display to the public during a pop-up on Mott Street in New York’s NoLIta neighborhood. The space opened Wednesday afternoon and remains through Sunday.
The Wrangler Archives exhibition in NoLiTa.
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“We have an amazing collection too,” said Virginia Rivetti, head of global design for the Greensboro, N.C.-based brand, in a walkthrough with WWD. “Everything we do is inspired by our heritage — it’s the North Star for Wrangler.” But combining it with Kanamaru’s pieces makes for an even more compelling presentation, she said.
Among the pieces on display — the most-valuable of which are shown in Plexiglas cases — are a prototype of the 11MW jean from 1947 that never actually made it to market, as well as the first Champion jacket — in red — produced for rodeo champs in the early 1950s.
As outlined at the exhibit, Wrangler’s then-parent company, Blue Bell, hired Philadelphia tailor “Rodeo” Ben Liechtenstein to create a jean for cowboys. The jean he created still exists today and includes what Rivetti said are the “seven icons” of the brand: a watch pocket, flat rivets, felled seams, belt loops, the W stitching, a back patch and a rope logo.
“Wrangler was not a fashion brand, but a jean for a cowboy,” Rivetti said.
Over the years, fashion became more important to the brand, she said. Wrangler entered the women’s market in the 1960s and was among the first to embrace collaborators. They included artist Peter Max. Together, they created a jacket and trousers for women in the ’70s featuring a vibrant Max print and mixed media jeans. That outfit is also on display.
The Peter Max x Wrangler outfit came out in the 1970s.
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Other special pieces include colorful rodeo clown shirts from the ’60s, mountain landscape flared pants from the ’70s, Brush Popper shirts, Dale Earnhardt NASCAR jeans from the ’90s and National Finals Rodeo bomber jackets.
Tucked in the back of the exhibition space was a peek of the Blue Bell collection that will launch for fall 2026. Rivetti said the elevated line made its debut during Paris Fashion Week and features a capsule of jackets, pants and shirts in key silhouettes inspired by the brand’s “ranch to rodeo” heritage, she said. Key pieces include jeans made from Japanese selvage denim, suede shirts and bomber jackets.
“With the hype of Western at the moment,” Rivetti said. “We say Wrangler can take you from Paris, Texas, to Paris, France.”
Blue Bell was the name of Wrangler’s original parent company.
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The Wrangler Archive exhibit will also sell a number of vintage-inspired T-shirts, jeans, jackets and Brush Popper shirts.
Kanamaru, who came to New York for the exhibition, said through a translator that he found a lot of his most precious pieces at vintage stores in Japan and the U.S. over the past three-plus decades. Although he said he’s not a cowboy — although he’d like to be — the red Champion rodeo jacket is his favorite in the exhibit.
Rivetti said Wrangler decided to debut the installation in New York because it is “an amazing mecca of fashion, but we’re also thinking of bringing it to Europe.”
