Every kind of cowboy ¡V real, faux, straight, gay ¡V dresses up in Jack Weil¡¦s, ¡§Born in the USA¡¨ western-wear
IN 2007, THE New York-based Fashion Group International ¡V founded by Elizabeth Arden, Edith Head and Eleanor Roosevelt ¡V dedicated its ¡§Rising Star ¡V Denver Region¡¨ award to Jack A Weil of Rockmount Ranch Wear. The honor was tongue in cheek: at the time, Weil was 106 years old and was the oldest and longest-serving CEO in America.
The award is proudly displayed on Weil¡¦s desk at the Rockmount Building in Denver, although the desk hasn¡¦t been used since Weil¡¦s death in August. The company he created, however, continues to rise thanks to Weil¡¦s inventions, iconic western clothing designs and the vigorous way he protected his brand.
Rockmount¡¦s western-wear is the real deal. Honest-to-goodness cowboys still wear them. Fake cowboys ¡V John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Tom Mix, James Dean ¡V wore them on film and stage. Cowboy wannabes on the Denver ski slopes love them and delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last summer made asses of themselves in them. Not to forget star-crossed gay cowboys ¡V well, more about them later.
Had I visited the century-old Rockmount Building in downtown Denver in, say, July last year ¡V I would have been greeted with a ¡§Where you from?¡¨ from ¡§Papa Jack¡¨ himself. Weil attended the office until two weeks before he died, and his desk was the first thing a visitor saw. His dog Wazee always came with him.
On my visit in October, Wazee was there, looking a little lost. I was met by Steve Weil, current president and CEO of Rockmount Ranch Wear, Papa Jack¡¦s grandson, who bluntly tells me: ¡§We¡¦re not that interested in promoting our work in India, China or Hong Kong.¡¨ Weil has a great suspicion, even fear, of Asian counterfeits and wants the business to remain distinctly ¡V and strictly ¡V American. As did his grandfather.
The story begins in 1946, when Jack Weil decided that cowboys weren¡¦t interested in sewing back buttons that got caught in the west¡¦s ubiquitous sagebrush. His solution was to use a snap-fastener: it clicked a shirtfront shut and was less snag-prone than the ordinary button.
From function, Weil turned his attention to form. Rockmount¡¦s signature ¡§diamond¡¨ snaps, saw-tooth pockets and tight-fitting shirts served a purpose ¡V they didn¡¦t snag on brush ¡V and then became a fashion statement for a group of people who weren¡¦t exactly the best-dressed blokes around. It made cowboys ¡§stand apart from city slickers,¡¨ according to the Rockmount website. ¡§These western shirts are dress-up finery, to be worn on Saturday night in town or at the rodeo.¡¨ And soon, the city slickers wanted the clothes as well, leading Mr Weil to come to this famous conclusion:
¡§The West is not a place, it is a state of mind.¡¨
It wasn¡¦t long before Rockmount¡¦s catchment area extended far beyond Colorado and Wyoming. Its range of products went well beyond just shirts, boots and hats: Rockmount now sells blankets and pillows. But the manufacturing never strayed from US soil. Jack Weil¡¦s views on this were simple, according to his grandson: for an American look you need American manufacturing. Besides, he would say, if he sent the work abroad, Americans wouldn¡¦t be able to buy his clothes because they¡¦d have no jobs.
These are beliefs fundamental to Rockmount. As is the belief that discounters are bad for business, even if they might boost the number of shirts sold. Rockmount sells to about 500 stores worldwide. Walmart isn¡¦t one of them.
¡§We¡¦ve always been careful not to exploit ourselves in a crass manner,¡¨ says Steve Weil. ¡§We were never interested in doing business with discounters. Because they are the nemesis of mom and pop stores ... which is our lifeblood. The discounters are very predatory and they kill categories by cheapening them.¡¨
The Rockmount thinking: if a customer wants the clothes badly enough, they will pay the price.
That goes for Hollywood too. Including the producers of Brokeback Mountain.
¡§Sometimes movies approach us and think it¡¦s an honor for us to be in their movie even though their movie is costing tens of millions of dollars and we¡¦re a small family business,¡¨ Weil says. ¡§And they think we should treat them like a charity, which we don¡¦t.¡¨
Brokeback had about 30 Rockmount shirts in it. Most were for the extras, but two worn by the central characters ¡V ultimately discovered in a closet draped over each other ¡V provide the film¡¦s knockout, tear-jerking ending.
¡§I felt they should have been put up for an Academy Award,¡¨ says Weil, ¡§but no one gives a shirt an Oscar.¡¨ According to Weil, the two shirts later sold on e-Bay for just over $100,000.
¡§They bought the shirts,¡¨ he says.
