Unhappy with the quality and inconsistent delivery of workwear from suppliers, Henry David Lee decides his own company, H.D. Lee Mercantile Company, could do better and opened a factory to sew overalls and jackets.

Sales of Hudson overalls are booming. The company expands to a larger headquarters and changes its name to Blue Bell Overall Company, later to be renamed Blue Bell following the merger with Big Ben Manufacturing of Kentucky.

The Buddy Lee doll was introduced to promote Lee® overalls. Over the next 40 years, he became prominent in the promotions of each new product introduced by Lee®.

Blue Bell acquires Casey Jones Company, a manufacturer of work-clothing, and with it, the rights to Casey Jones' rarely used brand name - Wrangler®.

Blue Bell opens a plant in Belgium and the Wrangler® brand is successfully launched in Europe.

Now available in 51 countries and having expanded into casual wear, Lee® is purchased by VF Corporation

Wrangler® jeans and shirts become the first, and still only, western wear brand to be officially endorsed by the Pro Rodeo Cowboy Association.

Blue Bell merges with VF Corporation of Pennsylvania, making VF one of the two largest jeans makers in the world.

Wrangler® becomes the #1 market share leader in the U.S.; one out of every four males in the U.S. is wearing a Wrangler® jean.

VF Jeanswear adds two new brands to the Wrangler® family: RIGGS WORKWEAR® by Wrangler®, a line of premium work clothes, and Wrangler® ProGear™ hunting apparel for the serious sportsman. The George Strait Cowboy Cut collection is also introduced.

VF Jeanswear acquires Rock and Republic Enterprises, Inc., makers of Rock & Republic® denim and apparel.

2018 - In August 2018, VF announces that the company intends to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies - VF and the new Kontoor Brands, Inc. comprising VF's Jeanswear brands, including Wrangler®, Lee® and Rock & Republic®, and the VF Outlet business.

On May 23, 2019, Kontoor Brands, Inc. becomes an independent, publicly taded company listed on the NYSE (NYSE: KTB). A global lifestyle apparel company, Kontoor Brands' portfolio includes some of the world's most iconic denim brands: Wrangler®, Lee® and Rock & Republic®.