Wrangler Invented Cowboy Denim. Cherry LA Modernized It (EXCLUSIVE)
Joseph Perez and David Levy weren’t always from around here. The two founders of Cherry LA, a red-hot West Coast menswear brand, came to Los Angeles as kids from Paris and Montreal, respectively, and have stuck around long enough to own their status as true Angelenos. In fact, they’ve built an entire oeuvre based on that identity.
Cherry proposes a modern vision of West Coast Americana, drawing from westerns and workwear, desert car racing, and Route 66 nostalgia. Wrangler, meanwhile, is one of the most recognizable brands in American clothing as the inventor of cowboy-cut denim and the long-time source of quality jean jackets.
The two brands seem like a match made in heaven, and their first collaboration delivers in full: “The Fast Ones” is Wrangler and Cherry’s 15-piece inaugural collection spanning vintage-looking racing tees, a textured suede brown varsity jacket, and, of course, Wrangler’s signature “Cowboy Cut” denim.
The resulting silhouettes are a brilliant combination of both brands’ signatures, like a denim shirt jacket that takes the build of a classic Wrangler snap-button denim shirt while simultaneously warping into the shape of Cherry’s boxy cropped outerwear.
“Our goal was to shine a light on a moment in time when Americana, motorsports, and effortless style went hand in hand,” Levy tells Highsnobiety. A stout red hoodie comes co-branded with hand-stitched Wrangler and Cherry detailing, and there’s a compelling left-field inclusion of a blue football jersey featuring the denim brand’s logo sprawled across the front in yellow. It’s a collaboration that ranges from the accessible to the luxurious, with prices going from $79 for the paneled trucker caps to $1,649 for the suede jacket, available on both brands’ websites.
For Cherry, the collaboration is a particularly major mainstream level-up. As one of the buzziest brands in Los Angeles these days, Cherry has essentially become a catch-all provider of all the signifiers of a certain trendy LA vibe: boxy work jackets, rugged denim for days, and the sort of paneled trucker hats you’ve seen worn by the likes of Jacob Elordi and Austin Butler.
The brand has set itself apart from a cavalcade of mass-produced homogenous trendy westernwear by big-box retailers, making every piece of clothing by hand in Los Angeles. There’s a quality to the craftsmanship and an attention to detail: thoughtful drapes, intricate stitched detailing, and quality textiles make Cherry pieces as functional as they are fashionable. That ethos extends to the Wrangler collection, which is also produced entirely in LA. “We’ve long admired Wrangler’s heritage,” says Perez. “And manufacturing these products in Los Angeles at our own factories makes this achievement even more meaningful.”
While the young brand’s not quite as omnipresent as, say, KITH is in New York, the best point of comparison may be the early days of Aimé Leon Dore, back when ALD had an unwavering dedication to reviving the New York street style of Teddy Santis’ youth. Where ALD had Yankee caps and clean puffer coats, Cherry has trucker hats and denim jackets. It’s tapped into the spirit of a specific Hollywood of eras past, channeling classic Robert Redford — but on his Utah ranch, rather than on the red carpet for the Oscars. When you see someone wearing a Cherry ballcap at a Silver Lake bar, it offers the same shorthand the ALD New Balance 550s came with in 2019. In short, it’s the mark of someone who knows what’s up around town.
And when a brand is in this enviable position — hip, but not quite a household name — it’s often just one perfect collaboration away from the rocketship taking off (think ALD x New Balance). And this note-perfect collection with the iconic American denim manufacturer Wrangler may be its biggest spotlight yet, giving Cherry a heap of extra attention while making for some of the most exciting Wrangler threads in years.
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