Launched on February 22 to Wrangler NFT holders, Wrangler collaborated with vintage clothing brand MNTGE to create a blockchain-integrated line of vintage Wrangler clothing. The collection featured 60 pieces with phone-scannable near-field communication tags. The tags offer traceability and access to exclusive brand content.
The collaboration, which was showcased at the February 22 Future Fashion Summit in Paris, took six weeks to pull together, including thrifting the items from Parisian vintage stores. The NFC tags, which are scannable with a phone, link to a customized web page featuring in-depth content on 77-year-old Wrangler and its history.
“Our communities have told us they’re interested in the history of the brand,” said Sean Gormley, global creative and concept director for Wrangler. “They want to know more about how the brand is related to the rodeo and who buys our more exclusive products. It makes the feeling of being a customer richer if the brand is willing to reveal more about what goes into the product or how it’s made.”
In addition to the items thrifted in Paris, the collection featured decades-old Wrangler pieces reportedly discovered on the floor of a barn in Germany, which Gormley purchased on Instagram.
“There’s a nice connection between vintage pieces and [brand] storytelling,” said Gormley. “We have an [archive] program called Reborn focused on bringing old garments back to life. Reborn jeans and jackets have a story that we can write about for future customers, and those stories can be discovered when buyers scan the NFC chip.” The chips will be added to Reborn items over the next few years.
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Wrangler launched Reborn in April 2022 and has since been testing how to market and sell the items to its customers, according to Gormley.
The NFCs will also allow for tracking the item throughout its lifespan. “We can update the metadata every time the item is scanned, resold or passed down,” said Gormley. “We can even put pictures of the Future Fashion event onto the chip. If the owner of the [item] scans and checks, they can find out which year it came from and the story behind it.”
The brand is also sharing useful shopping information for fans of archival Wranglers. “I describe what I look for when I go thrifting: what label, what defines the age of the Wrangler jean, what fabric to look for,” said Gormley.
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The popularity of the launch will inform a bigger project coming next year, he said.
According to Gormley, offering up education and authentication are ways brands can differentiate from resale channels selling their items.
“Resale channels have all of the products at the moment,” said Gormley. “But we are one of the most prolific secondhand brands in resale channels. If a customer can get an authenticated Wrangler jacket with a bit more story and a bit more insight, that can give them more style credentials [than just buying it through resale].”
Wrangler’s foray into web3 technology underscores its blend of tradition and innovation. In 2022, Wrangler auctioned a “Mr. Wrangler Legendary” NFT in collaboration with Leon Bridges, commemorating its 75th anniversary. It plans to roll out a broader range of NFTs this year.
Kontoor Brands, Inc., which owns Wrangler and Lee, reported a third-quarter revenue of $655 million on November 2, marking an 8% increase, or 7% in constant currency. However, the company saw a decrease in gross margin by 200 basis points to 41.5%. Additionally, earnings before interest reached $91 million, with the margin dropping by 200 basis points to 13.9%.
