A new book titled ‘More Than A Touch of Jeanious’ opens the lid on the golden years of Wrangler jeans from its birth in the USA to an international fashion brand, the role Nottinghamshire played in its success, and its importance in the county’s industrial heritage.
The book plots the rise of Wrangler Jeans in the UK from the early 1970s to 1991 through its base in Calverton in north Nottinghamshire, and a state of art manufacturing centre at Falkirk in Scotland.
Calverton literally launched the jeans brand in the UK where its warehousing and distribution, sales teams and marketing hub were based.
The author, Robin Dilley was the man in charge of making the name and garment range a ‘must have’. 20th century iconic cultural names, from Jimmi Hendrix to Hazel O’Connor, fronted advertising and promotional campaigns, and Freddy Mercury strutted his stuff in Wrangler jeans during the 1985 global ‘Live Aid’ concert.
The book, available on Amazon, will be of interest to anyone interested in fashion, history, textiles, sales, marketing, and shopping. It tracks how an 18th century fabric made in Nimes, in France, evolved into a wardrobe staple.
Across three hundred years the robust cotton fabric was used to produce sturdy clothing for agricultural workers and seafarers, to sails for working boats, then cowboy gear, then into an international fashion wardrobe essential.
Wrangler also broke new ground in sports sponsorship with both Nottingham Forest and Notts County and former employees can enjoy reading the story they contributed to.
Robin Dilley sets the story against a backdrop of social and political history when Wrangler ‘grew up.’ The period included inflation and industrial action in the UK, The ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, the Cold War, the Falklands War, hostilities in Libya and the fall of the Berlin wall.
