Suddenly, Wrangler Is Cool Again Thanks to Pop Culture

Holly Wheeler has gotten used to calls like this by now. On May 31, the relentless buzzing of her cellphone disturbed her otherwise relaxing Sunday. “I got a ton of text messages all of a sudden,” recalls Wheeler, the vp of global brand marketing for Wrangler. “I had all these people sending me texts with screen grabs of a little alien with the denim-on-denim look.” The messages, she recalled, also pretty much all said the same thing: “Dude! You’re on Rick and Morty!” Well, it wasn’t actually Wheeler who was on Adult Swim’s cult hit animated sci-fi series—it was Wrangler. Without spoiling anything, the show's Season 4 finale featured a mock piece of marketing in which a Gromflomite pitchman warmly thanks an evil clone version of Morty's mother Beth for her latest purchase. “Congratulations to your government, business or terror cell on its acquisition of the NX-5 Planet Remover by Xamaxax in partnership with Wrangler Jeans!” said the alien insect, essentially suggesting that it’s easier to wipe out a planet than a pair of Wrangler denims. Contrary to what some fans probably thought, Wrangler corporate hadn’t paid for the placement and, in fact, didn’t even know it was coming. But now that it was out in the world, Wheeler moved quickly to do something about it. “We didn’t know Wrangler was going to be in the show,” she said, recalling her next thought: “We’ve got something here. We gotta do something with this.” What Wrangler did about it makes its official debut today: the Wrangler x Rick and Morty Collection. It features a T-shirt and laser-etched denim jacket, both sporting a lavish illustration of the NX-5 Planet Remover. (There’s no word on what a galactic death ray might cost, but the items will run you between $29 and $79 on Wrangler’s website.) Wrangler's Stranger Things collaboration features Hellfire Club jackets and Ts. Wheeler’s team moved at quantum speed to ink a deal with Adult Swim, produce an approved design for the clothes, and manufacture them in time. But it’s a process for which Wheeler has had some practice. Last year, when Lil Nas X sang about Wranglers on his booty in his monster hit Old Town Road, Wheeler heard about it through a similar torrent of text messages and, within a few weeks, had worked to produce the Lil Nax X Collection. Wrangler’s collaborations are not only a lesson in the importance of moving quickly to be part of a cultural moment, they also demonstrate the rewards for an older brand that, by sidling up to the popular kids, can introduce itself to a new generation of customers. That was also the aim when Wrangler put its brand on another famous booty in January: the legendary buns belonging to retired NFL star Rob Gronkowski, who sported some custom Wrangler denim for Gronk Beach, the Polynesian luau he hosted just prior to Super Bowl LIV. Still another example of Wrangler’s ability to ride with younger partners was announced late last week. The Wrangler x Stranger Things Collection is another denim-jacket/T-shirt combo, this set emblazoned with the logo for the Hellfire Club, the title of the first episode of Season 4 of Netflix’s hit series. Released on Nov. 6 (which, in case you missed it, was Stranger Things Day), the apparel featured a “heavy washdown” to make it look like it had been lying around since the 1980s, the decade in which the show is set. Wheeler admitted that the fan base of a show like Rick and Morty "isn't necessarily Wrangler's core audience" but, as with all of its collaborations of late, "it ingratiates us in a way that's natural and fun." Meghan Labot, client director for consultancy FutureBrand, considers Wrangler’s recent partnerships to be “super smart,” not least because this is a century-old brand competing in a segment defined by the young and trendy. Wrangler “is definitely a brand that’s been around,” Labot said. “Everybody knows it, but it’s a little dusty. It doesn’t really have the cachet to appeal to a wide audience.” The Lil Nax X collection of 2019 sold out almost as fast as Wrangler could make it. Labot added that, ideally, brand collaborations should have benefits for both parties, citing the Lil Nas X Collection from May 2019 in particular. “Country music at the moment is becoming a more diverse thing and he’s a perfect example—a rap crossover,” she said. “So Wrangler, as this old-school icon of country culture, gives him a little bit of cred in that world. And what he did for them was give them a little cred within a younger, urban, Gen-Z audience—people who might have never considered Wrangler as an appealing brand.” Part of generating that appeal is humor, which has sometimes come at Wrangler’s expense. Rick and Morty’s casting of Wrangler as the sponsor of a device that eradicates planets was, like just about everything else on the show, sarcastic. And the Stranger Things collaboration—inspired by stocky police chief Jim Hopper’s love of loose-fitting dad jeans—hardly portrays Wrangler as a hipster-closet essential. But retail analyst Bruce Winder pointed out that Wrangler’s willingness to be joshed a little adds to the brand’s authenticity and appeal. “Like people in real life, some brands take on a humble role and can laugh at themselves,” he said. “It's part of their personality and that is what their friends—or, in this case, customers—love about them." Gronk, famous for being shirtless, wore his custom Wrangler duds at his Super Bowl party in January. In fact, a little bit of humor lies behind Wrangler’s decision not to include an actual pair of jeans in its Rick and Morty collection. “Because the whole joke of the show was that Wrangler jeans are indestructible, we thought we could pair the T-shirt and jacket with our everyday jeans,” Wheeler explained. “The thought was to come up with a custom jacket and custom tee, and people would get the joke and purchase a pair of Wranglers on their own.”

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How Rick and Morty, Plus a Galaxy of Other Pop-Culture Stars, Made Wrangler Cool Again

A legacy brand collaborates its way into the hearts of younger customers

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