Throwback photos stir up laughs, memories and—for denim heads—a wealth of vintage denim inspiration. This weekly column on Rivet asks individuals in the denim industry to take a look back and reminisce about a denim moment in time captured on film.
This week, Matthew Fuhr redefines the term “heritage denim” and explains how generations of denim workers in his family helped shape his life, and eventually his career. Now the president of textile mill Siddiqsons Group with a denim-obsessed family of his own, he told Rivet exactly what denim means to him.
Matthew Fuhr, President, Siddiqsons Group
This is me and one of my brothers in the mid-1970s at a rodeo in North Carolina. My father worked for Blue Bell for many years, which brought our family to the area. Wrangler was always entrenched in rodeo and Nascar, so when there was a local or regional event, my father dressed us in Wrangler Western wear and brought us along.
If memory serves me correct, I think I was asked to model on occasion, so there always seemed to be bootcut jeans and woven shirts in my closet—much like what’s currently in there, 40 years later. I’m not quite sure why the picture was taken, but I always wanted to participate as a kid, so maybe we were in timeout because I was upset I couldn’t ride a bull.
Fast forward to now, and my entire family has an appreciation for denim—especially vintage. Recently, we were shopping and found some great broken twill Wranglers from almost the exact year of my jeans in the photo. Plus, my wife worked in the denim business, and my daughters are both interested in design school, so this brings a whole new meaning to heritage denim.
