“What’s better than a great combo? That’s right, a Texas combo!” Legendary rodeo announcer Bob Tallman stood at the counter at a seventies-era Whataburger in Mesquite, about fifteen miles east of downtown Dallas. His made-for-the-arena voice boomed through the dining room in one of the chain’s last A-frame buildings in the state. Fresh-faced professional cowboys named Gus, Kash, and Pecos stood next to him, surrounded by swirling smoke from burgers searing on the flattop.
They’re all clad in cowboy hats, big belt buckles, and crisp denim shirts, and they looked ready for a day of riding broncs and eating burgers. But instead, the rodeo pros were stepping out of their comfort zone to model a new apparel line: a whimsical Western collaboration between Whataburger and Wrangler.
You could say the two historic companies, both at right around their seventy-fifth anniversaries, are pardnerin’ at just the right time. The clothing collection, set to debut in spring 2025, includes trucker hats, graphic tees, classic denim, and a pair of orange-and-white-striped jeans. It’s at once nostalgic and of-the-moment, as a renewed love of cowboy culture and all things Western hits a pinnacle. From Yellowstone and its many spin-offs to Beyoncė’s Cowboy Carter, country is cool again. Even GQ is calling cowboycore 2024’s “defining aesthetic.”
The collaboration is “adding flavor to timeless Western apparel,” says John Meagher, Wrangler’s vice president of global brand marketing. The brand pulled together signature denim and apparel pieces and added Whataburger logos, icons, and taglines. The iconic Whataburger Flying W logo is woven in seamlessly on button-down shirts, some with small splashes of orange embroidery, and there’s even a “Whata Cowboy” T-shirt. “It all feels very cowboy, with Whataburger twists of orange and white and Spicy Ketchup patches,” he says.
The creative team from Wrangler descended upon the vintage Whataburger building in November to shoot photo and video spots for the new line. The thirty-foot orange-and-white metal structure soars vertically over East Kearney Street, a corner of Mesquite that was once dominated by farmland and now sits just a horse-trot away from the Mesquite Championship Rodeo. Original hitching posts dot the sidewalk under the covered drive-in area, with horse-head finials painted orange.
Real rodeo cowboys model the clothing—sixteen-year-old Kash Loyd of Rio Vista, who’s already a six-time junior world champion bareback rider; Pecos Tatum, a teen roping sensation who recently entered the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association circuit; and Gus Gaillard, a 21-year-old pro rodeo athlete who goes to Tarleton State.
But Tallman was the shoot’s main character. A fifth-generation beef rancher and ProRodeo Hall of Fame American rodeo announcer, Tallman is, at 77, about the same age as Wrangler and Whataburger. He called all the cowboys at the shoot his “grandsons” and signed Loyd’s absence note for school.
Cameras snapped as Raymond and Big Gus, horses/models, clacked around the parking lot and at the drive-through. The set piece harkened back to a time when life was slower, when fast food wasn’t meant to be too fast. The nostalgic feel of the ads is exactly what Wrangler creative director Matt Janes was going for. He was inspired by the eighties-era Whataburger ads featuring country music singer Mel Tillis. “We wanted to balance the look and feel from the eighties and nineties while showcasing the youthfulness and freshness of the collection,” Meagher adds.
Whataburger was born in Corpus Christi in 1950; the orange-and-white buildings were designed by founder and hobby pilot Harmon Dobson to be seen from the sky. Wrangler, based in North Carolina, introduced its first Western jeans in 1947 and has outfitted many a rodeo cowboy as well as Texas son George Strait.
“Both are legendary brands that represent that grit, that resilience. It’s in their DNA,” says Whataburger chief marketing officer Scott Hudler. The collection appeals to people who embrace and embody that aura, whether you’re a cowboy or a “white-collar worker with a blue-collar soul,” he adds.
Whataburger is no stranger to collaborations and limited-time merch that sells out quickly to Whatafans across the country. Hudler says the collabs started coming in hot when Whataburger began focusing on expanding the brand outside of Texas. “If someone moves away from Texas, even if they don’t live near a Whataburger anymore, they can still have a piece of home,” he says, like an orange-and-white Yeti tumbler, a spicy ketchup James Avery charm, or striped Chubbies swim trunks.
There will be 24 items on sale next spring, including denim jackets, vests, jeans, graphic tees, and fun baseball caps. The collection will be available on Wrangler.com and select Western retailers, and a limited amount of pieces will be available on Whataburger’s website.
