With Wrangler® Archives Gallery, denim heritage lands in Milan at Slam Jam The project that brings together archive, art and presentation in a single space, the Slam Jam Center
From September 24 to 27, 2026, during Milan Fashion Week, Wrangler® will bring to the city a project that sets itself apart from the usual seasonal events: Wrangler Archives Gallery, a travelling exhibition born from a collaboration with Slam Jam and dedicated to the art, culture and heritage of denim. The event will be held at the Slam Jam Center on Via Lanza, a space that over the years has become a point of reference for those who closely follow the evolution of streetwear culture and its relationship with brands' material memory.
The beating heart of the event will be the private collection of Rikiya "Ric" Kanamaru, considered one of the world's most important vintage denim collectors. Founder of the Gold Gate showroom and author of the photography book Wrangler Archives, which illustrates over two hundred rare pieces gathered over nearly forty years of research, Kanamaru will bring to Milan a selection of Wrangler archive garments spanning an extraordinary timeframe, from the 1930s through to the 1990s. These are pieces rarely put on public display, and for those who follow denim culture it will be a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see in person garments that normally exist only in the pages of specialist books or in the private collections of a select few connoisseurs.
The event opened on the evening of September 24 with an invitation-only VIP Launch: an opening cocktail reserved for a select audience of industry insiders, media and sector guests, who had the chance to preview both Kanamaru's archive and the Blue Bell collection before the public opening. From September 25 to 27, the gallery will open its doors to everyone, allowing anyone in the city for Fashion Week to freely visit both the archive exhibition and the presentation of the new premium line.
Alongside the historical component, the event will also serve as the stage for the Italian debut of the Wrangler Blue Bell Collection, the new limited-edition premium line that marks the brand's first independent entry into the high-end segment. The name is no coincidence: it references Blue Bell Inc., the early twentieth-century workwear company that acquired Wrangler in 1943, and with it the idea of grit, determination and functionality that built American workwear. The collection reinterprets those utilitarian origins through the highest level of craftsmanship, bringing the most iconic archive silhouettes — including the brand's celebrated "7 Icons" — to premium materials such as Japanese raw selvedge denim, full-grain suede, soft shearling and copper hardware.
Among the pieces that will best tell the story of this transition will be the Cowboy Cut® Raw Selvedge Jean, a premium reinterpretation of the iconic 13MWZ crafted in Japanese raw selvedge denim in the "Wrangler Blue" shade, with copper hardware, an internal selvedge ID and a "Made in Japan" label to certify its artisanal craftsmanship. Alongside it will be the Leather Aviator Jacket, a masterfully crafted leather jacket with a sherpa collar and quilted lining, which reinterprets the military heritage of the aviator style through a Wrangler lens, designed to soften and develop character with wear.
The collection continues with the Cowboy Cut® Suede Jean, a cognac-coloured full-grain suede variant of the 13MWZ, made entirely in leather with a cotton lining, which preserves the iconic structure of the original model while translating it into a completely new tactile experience. Rounding out the lineup is the Suede Shearling Wrangle Coat, a coat inspired by the brand's historic range coat, crafted in chocolate torte suede with shearling details, zig-zag stitching on the front and western spurs that anchor the piece to Wrangler's deepest DNA.
Wrangler Archives Gallery will thus take shape as a fully rounded project: on one hand, a curatorial look at the history of American denim through one of the most authoritative private collections in the world; on the other, the launch of a new chapter for the brand, which will choose Milan and the stage of Fashion Week to introduce itself to an international premium audience.