While the store window of Wrangler's Manchester store is bright and inviting, it does little to dispel this view. It features double-height glass, basic mannequins and 'freedom' daubed in gothic writing across the window. As one would expect, there is also a generous helping of that well-known blue-and-yellow logo.
On entry, a yellow wall sports 'Wrangler' in a rope-like typeface. The interior may not be Texas-ranch, but it suggests little else. The imagery of Wrangler's website is echoed, but there is too much blandness: neutral floor, white walls, and aluminium and glass shelving. At least it is not all timber fences.
The changing rooms are more playful, boasting 3D 'W' seats and yellow doors with a stitching effect. In the cubicles, the cowboy theme returns with chrome, cow-horn clothes pegs and a stool like a mini rocking-horse.
I left the cubicle hoping that, like Bobby Ewing, it had all been a dream.
I wanted to like the store, but it failed to marry its heritage to a positive direction. If the clothes had been better, I might have been more forgiving.
But now I feel a bit nasty, like JR Ewing. I'm sorry, don't shoot me.
Design: JHP.
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