Wrangler has partnered with cotton growers in five states to create The Wrangler Rooted Collection, a locally-sourced denim collection that honors land stewardship and champions state pride.
The collection is a limited, premium line made from 100% sustainable, traceable-to-the-farm cotton. Each piece is grown, milled, cut and sewn in the United States.
The Rooted Collection features five state-specific pairs of jeans: the Alabama Jean, the Georgia Jean, the North Carolina Jean, the Tennessee Jean and the Texas Jean, with the cotton used for each traceable to a family farm in that state. Each state’s design includes a unique wash, as well as trim and patch details featuring the state’s silhouette and other embellishments. The collection will also include two T-shirt designs for each state and three national designs.
“The Wrangler Rooted Collection reflects our commitment to strengthening local communities and supporting U.S. farmers,” said Tom Waldron, global brand president of Wrangler. “Equally important, the introduction of this collection aligns with our goal to continually improve the environmental performance and traceability of our products.”
The family farms supplying cotton to the Rooted Collection are the first growers in the Wrangler Science and Conservation program, which advocates for land stewardship and soil health best practices. These science-backed methods build crop resilience to weather disruptions while improving yield, reducing water and energy inputs, fighting erosion and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Wrangler aims to source 100% of its cotton from farms using land stewardship practices by 2025.
“As cotton producers, we work really hard all year to grow a high-quality, sustainable crop,” said Eugene Pugh III, who leads operations of Pugh Farms in Halls, TN, “but we’ve never before seen a finished product with our cotton. All my guys here are the farm are incredibly proud to say we grew the Tennessee Jean.”
The family farms that provided the sustainable cotton for each state’s collection are:
- The Alabama Jean – Newby Family Farms of Athens, AL
- The Georgia Jean (available summer 2019) – McClendon Acres of Leary, GA
- The North Carolina Jean (available summer 2019) – Lassiter Family Farms of Conway, NC
- The Tennessee Jean (available summer 2019) – Pugh Farms of Halls, TN (available summer 2019)
- The Texas Jean – Vance and Mandie Smith of Big Spring, TX
Mount Vernon Mills in Trion, GA makes the denim fabric, and the jeans are cut and sewn by Excel Manufacturing in El Paso, TX.
The Rooted Collection T-shirts were made exclusively with sustainable cotton grown by Vance and Mandie Smith and were manufactured throughout the Carolinas:
- Spinning at Patrick Yarns in Kings Mountain, NC
- Knitting by Contempora Fabrics in Lumberton, NC
- Dyeing by Carolina Cotton Works in Gaffney, SC
- Cut and sewn by Palmetto Apparel Service in Andrews, SC
- Printed by TS Designs in Burlington, NC
The Wrangler Rooted Collection will initially be available through Wrangler.com and participating retailers. Pricing and additional details are available online.
Source: Cotton Grower