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Much of the [Wrangler] company’s success is owed to the Cowboy Cut, a model often referred to by its style number, 13MWZ. Introduced in 1947 and to this day accounting for about 25 percent of the company’s sales annually, it was one of the original Wrangler products and the first truly functional cowboy jeans. The 13MWZ (MWZ stands for “men’s Western zipper”) was developed by Ben Lichenstein, a tailor from Philadelphia known as Rodeo Ben, for the Blue Bell Overall Company, a North Carolina-based work-apparel manufacturer looking to break into the Western cowboy market. Its design has remained unchanged for 60 years. Phil McAdams, president of Wrangler’s Western Wear division, knows these jeans inside and out. The pockets are positioned high in the back so that riders don’t sit on their wallets, and the belt loops are set a little wider in front to accommodate a championship buckle. They are made with flat rivets that do not scratch saddles and large zippers that riders can handle with gloves. The tapered legs fit tightly over boots so that they don’t drag like the flared “boot cut” jeans, which have little to do with practicing cowboys; and the inseam is four to six inches longer than the norm so that when a rider is in the saddle, the bottom of the jeans sits just so on the top of the foot.