Wrangler Repro Appreciate Thread

[Maynard Friedman]

Ordered them from Rakuten a few weeks back (to replace the TCB50s I sold), they were held up in customs for ages and I received them last week, after an annoying customs charge. I’ve been after them for ages and I only found them in this size available from one Rakuten shop (three eighths) or Edwin/Wrangler Japan, which doesn’t ship internationally.

[Maynard Friedman]

On 5/28/2019 at 2:10 PM, Maynard Friedman said:

Edwin-made Wrangler 10MW 64. 

14oz, sanforized (I hope!) loose cut with right-hand twill, button fly, felled inseam and selvedge outseam.

Well, I gave them a 40C machine wash today and they shrank 0.5” in the waist and 2” in the inseam with no leg twist. They’re definitely sanforized!

Edited June 3, 2019 by Maynard Friedman

[428CJ]

2 inches inseam shrinkage with a warm water wash, and they just might be unsanforized. That's a lot of shrinkage for a warm wash.

[Maynard Friedman]

That was pretty much the only shrinkage, all other dimensions have remained fairly intact. Also I wore them damp for half an hour and re-measured and the inseam appears to have stretched back half an inch (or my initial measurement was wrong). As far as I’m concerned, that’s about par for a sanforized denim.

[Maynard Friedman]

A few additional details I like about this pair:

Overlapping denim front pocket facings:

Additional stealth indigo inseam stitch:

Sturdy pocket bags:

Lined back pockets:

Edited June 12, 2020 by Maynard Friedman

[lance]

Nice looking pair of jeans, Maynard. Plain white selvage, my favorite!

[shredwin_206]

I’ll say again that the 13MWZ is the best bang for buck jeans if you do manual labor. 
These are maybe a year of wear and lots washes. 

[lee porter]

Wow they’ve lasted well shredwin 

[Thanks_M8]

^^And they look great! 

Edited April 10, 2021 by Thanks_M8

[lee porter]

Yeah they do! 

[shredwin_206]

Y’all are too kind. 
I’ve always loved how these wear and fade 

[Duke Mantee]

This is interesting ...

[Maynard Friedman]

I think the B means it’s a smaller, boys’ model Duke, similar to the suffix sometimes used by Levi’s.

[Duke Mantee]

8 minutes ago, Maynard Friedman said:

I think the B means it’s a smaller, boys’ model Duke, similar to the suffix sometimes used by Levi’s.

Quite a big waist size on them Maynard ... 30½, and a 34 inseam

Edited April 11, 2021 by Duke Mantee

[Maynard Friedman]

For a 16 yr old boy and (slimmer-hipped) older dudes.

Although they don’t have that specific model, Denim Archives does mention other ‘B’ models for boys such as the 11BZX:

”This is a boys' model of 11MWZ, I think it was made in 1957-58. Although the target age is 14 years old, the waist is 27 inches, and because of the slightly loose silhouette, it can be worn sufficiently by slender Japanese men. Unlike the youth model 11YWZ, the top button is a snap button, which is the specification of a product for children.”

I’d guess the 11BW is the prototype Boys model and larger sizes, eg 16 were later given the Y demarcation for Youth.

Edited April 11, 2021 by Maynard Friedman

[Duke Mantee]

18 minutes ago, Maynard Friedman said:

For a 16 yr old boy and (slimmer-hipped) older dudes.

Although they don’t have that specific model, Denim Archives does mention other ‘B’ models for boys such as the 11BZX:

”This is a boys' model of 11MWZ, I think it was made in 1957-58. Although the target age is 14 years old, the waist is 27 inches, and because of the slightly loose silhouette, it can be worn sufficiently by slender Japanese men. Unlike the youth model 11YWZ, the top button is a snap button, which is the specification of a product for children.”

I’d guess the 11BW is the prototype Boys model and larger sizes, eg 16 were later given the Y demarcation for Youth.

Thank you

What about the arctuates?

[Maynard Friedman]

The 11MW model with Levi-esque  arcs was a prototype (the later version had the famous ‘W’) do my guess is they probably varied a bit, as did some of the earlier Levi’s arcs. Here’s a back pocket of some 11MW (again from Denim Archives).

[Duke Mantee]

Seems there’s been quite a few brands that used Levi-esque arcs, albeit for a short time. I hadn’t seen these Wrangler before, but certainly Carhartt and Lee have used similar, as well as less familiar brands (Powerhouse, Standard Overall and The Underhill to name a few) - all seemingly around the 30s ~ 40s, which I realise is pre trademark, but it does make me wonder as to why ... profiteering off Levi’s reputation?

[Dr_Heech]

Loads of brands ripping off Levis arcuates from around 1925 onwards. I guess widespread education didn't come in until after the war was over, so alot of unschooled/unread working men would see the famous arcuate and that was enough. Those Wrangler 1st model came out around 1947, just when the trademark on the levis arcuate came out, so in 1948 onwards Bluebell's used the W on their back pocket design.

[Duke Mantee]

9 minutes ago, Dr_Heech said:

Loads of brands ripping off Levis arcuates from around 1925 onwards. I guess widespread education didn't come in until after the war was over, so alot of unschooled/unread working men would see the famous arcuate and that was enough. Those Wrangler 1st model came out around 1947, just when the trademark on the levis arcuate came out, so in 1948 onwards Bluebell's used the W on their back pocket design.

All sounds a bit Japanese-y 

Such a famous marque is always going to attract attention 

[Duke Mantee]

33 minutes ago, Dr_Heech said:

... so alot of unschooled/unread working men would see the famous arcuate and that was enough.

Is it possible a lot of these unschooled/unread working men were interested in something that was just as good (if not better) for their purpose. I mean the badge might be an attraction but I’d guess value for money would be prime - so if it ‘looked’ right, lasted well and cost less then you’ve got a decision.

But then with the demise of many of these brands, could that mean their products actually weren’t much good?

[Dr_Heech]

@Duke Mantee Well the Wrangler brand ate into the cowboy specific market that was dominated mainly by Lee and others, so you may be right. I guess l know that the competiton against brands like Levis, stonghold, Cant bust em, etc was fierce because l've got loads of pics of their rip off competitors in my saved images  with a variety of (what looks like) different features and denim weights. 

Guess this is a discussion for the vintage denim thread at sometime.

[Double 0 Soul]

5 hours ago, Duke Mantee said:

Seems there’s been quite a few brands that used Levi-esque arcs, albeit for a short time. I hadn’t seen these Wrangler before

So you've never read the M-Series thread? Oh Mike, how could you...

[Duke Mantee]

38 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

So you've never read the M-Series thread? Oh Mike, how could you...

I don’t remember seeing the 11BW - I’m getting old, maybe even as old as Chaz ...

[Double 0 Soul]

30 minutes ago, Duke Mantee said:

I don’t remember seeing the 11BW - I’m getting old

Worry not, my history can't remember the 11 BBW i searched for this morning...

[shredwin_206]

@Duke Mantee I also believe the true fit book has a pair of wrangler with Levi’s arcs that is modeled

 

[Duke Mantee]

36 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

Worry not, my history can't remember the 11 BBW i searched for this morning...

Have deleted your browsing history already? 

[shredwin_206]

40s wranglers 

[Maynard Friedman]

This may have already been posted on the TCB thread but as they’re Wrangler repros, it’s worth mentioning them here too.

Some additional details.

Edited June 23, 2022 by Maynard Friedman

[shredwin_206]

regular run of the mill 13MWZ. Washed and dried tons. Worn hard working construction. Few repairs. 
I’ll still say you would be hard pressed to find a more durable quality pair of jeans for $25