Wrangler chooses London for Icons pop-up launch

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 19, 2019

Wrangler has chosen London as the location its global pop-up shop supporting the launch of its higher-end Icons collection later this month.

The company gave us a sneak peak of the store this week that’s been carefully thought out to emphasise the brand’s heritage and support the new launch.

Designed at the company’s Belgium studio, the collection, which features premium denim in reworked heritage styles, was originally unveiled to the trade at the Seek tradeshow in Berlin last summer.

So why choose London for the store? A spokesman told us that “many of the musicians that have worn Wrangler over the years have started their careers in London. It felt the right place to do it, especially in Soho.”

And the location is certainly a good one. The store occupies a small corner space on Brewer Street, a fast-developing location that hosted London Fashion Week for several seasons earlier this decade and that is also home to an increasing number of interesting stores. The relaunched Fiorucci chose it for its flagship and there’s also Woolrich, Champion, Rapha, Eytys, Stone Island and Palace Skateboards nearby.

The Wrangler store itself mixes ultra-retro in its furniture and overall design, and this is added to by the inclusion of vintage 70s jeans and jackets. It also has a feel that’s part retro rock venue, part recording studio with two electric guitars, a Marshall amp stack, drums, and a well-worn piano. 

But it also has a strongly modern element. Apart from the new denim pieces, the video campaign is running on a giant screen set into one wall, while a small room at the back features Wrangler-relevant holograms running continuously. And while those holograms have a clear music link, they also feature the familiar Wrangler cowboy imagery that’s mainly absent from this new store.

The collection launches online on February 25 with the store opening for a month three days later. And the company is aiming to ensure continued interest in it during that month with plans for bands to perform there, taking in musical genres from rock through to R ’n’ B, electronic and hip hop.