How The West Is Worn

2009-03-21T20:29:00.011-07:00

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By Mark O. Rathgeber

Sometime back in the time around 1930, a green Chrysler Roadster made its way westward out on a rough road that at that time would run from Topeka, Kansas on what now is called Interstate 70. That's when he "fell in love with this country, to see all the wide-open space, to see the future, I knew I was home." Jack A. would say, "that he loved how the snow glistened off the sparkling peaks west of Denver." In those days, the young bustling cowtown had policemen on street corners directing city traffic.

Little did Jack A. an his lovely wife Bea know, that the work for most of his lifetime would end up being in a special collection the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

Jack A. Weil was born in Evansville, Ind. and started his sales career in 1928 peddling men's garters and other elastic clothing products. He came to the Rocky Mountain region, and while his work allowed him the option to move west, his territory would soon stretch from El Paso, Texas to the Canadian border.

Soon after arriving in Colorado, Jack A. was helping his good friend, Phil Miller, who owned Miller-Stockman by selling overstocked ranching hats to the public. Miller eventually persuaded Weil to market and design cowboy shirts, knowing that there was a market for the cowboy in all of us..."cause you can't sell to cowboys, they don't have much money." Then later after World War II, in a snap (lol) decision, he (literally) bought up many of the metal and pearl buttons that added the signature look of the shirts, and soon after in the early 1950s was joined in his business by his son Jack B. It has been a long family story, one easily laid out for Hollywood screenplay.

Jack A. Weil was the first entrepreneur to mass produce the bolo tie, and he was clearly the man who coined the term. He relates back to it readily, recalling, "he called it a bola because bola in Portuguese means lariat"...and claimed he didn't write very "plain" and it came out expressed as a "bolo" tie.

Weil is known as the all time King of the Cowboy Clothing Manufacturers. Fashion magazines from Gentlemen's Quarterly to The L.A. Times and newspapers like The Denver Post feature Bob Dylan and his latest album "Love & Theft," wearing a pink gabardine shirt design on the cover. He probably never expected to have his clothes worn by Elvis Presley or by Clark Gable on the silver screen in "The Misfits".

Currently cultural icons like Meg Ryan, Nicolas Cage, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and ever rocker Gene Simmons of the band "KISS" fancies the clothing lines. Michael Martin Murphy wears and sells them at "Westfest". Jack A. has been known to sy that "you have to appeal to the cowboy in all of us." Even former President Ronald Reagan wore the masterwork of the shirt series, the "sawtooth" pocket design. Rockmount even has a patented tab of its own like that famous little red label on the pocket of Levi jeans.

Numerous society folks inquired directly to the company when Rockmount was featured in the fashion magazine Marie Claire. And until recently, passersby the wholesale shirt company could only buy the clothing line in one of the thousands of retail Western wear stores around the country. There is even a retail store in the new Colorado Mills Mall in Jefferson County and by now probably others. Now that is a really good thing!

And back at the ranch in downtown Denver, musicians and entertainers from all genres now can wrangle up the goods at the LoDo museum-like headquarters of Rockmount Ranch Wear before stepping on stage to dazzle audiences. Toby Keith was caught wearing a patriotic one at the "FlameWorthy Awards" in Nashville last April 2003. Robert Redford specifically requested the shirt for his movie "The Horse Whisperer" and exclusively uses the vintage looks for all of his employees at his Sundance Resort in Utah.

What he and his family have created is true Western Americana that can be worn and shown off.

This April 28, [2004], Jack will most likely celebrate his 103rd birthday like he usually does, Wazee Street in downtown Denver will again be renamed "Jack A. Weil Boulevard," he'll drive himself to the combination clothing store/shirt manufacturer five story building, after picking up doughnuts and pastries for the staff. He'll probably be wearing his usual cowboy conservative look including a black and white [plaid] shirt with the pearl snap buttons that he popularized, boots, hat and one of favorite silver dollar bolo ties dating back to 1901.

He doesn't show up at the crack of down like he used to, but he still goes to work every day on his own, and adds his wit and humor to the organization that includes his 70-something year old son Jack B. and his grandson Steve. The three generation team bustles and cajoles each other throughout the hectic pace of the sales day, and always have time to take themselves out to lunch.

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Jack B. states that Jack A. is very independent and that he is "very glad that they have lived long enough to share this special time in their lives."

The entire clothing lines are still completely manufactured in the United States where that task can take a toll on their bottom line. His grandson Steve admits, "my grandfather believes there are higher issues, both in business and in life". "We make business judgments here that might not always be the most profitable, but to us, especially through his eyes, they seem proper and right".

Jack A. is a marketing guru by yesterday and today's standards, who clearly understands the importance of how to sell the sizzle with the steak.

Rockmount RanchWear not only sells its classic and vintage lines of cowboy shirts, but also sells hats, boots, gloves, bandanas, scarfs and all kinds of ranch gear and memories. The vintage shirts and Western accessories are [all] collectible and city slickers can still sometimes find them in thrift stores and even at estate sales. Rockmount RanchWear is located at 1646 Wazee in downtown Denver.

Happy Birthday Jack A. Weil! You are a true legend in your own time.

This article was published in The Colorado Gambler the week of April 13-19, 2004.

The Weil Family and Rockmount RanchWear were also featured the CBS "Assignment America" sometime in 2005.

Both Jack A. Weil and Jack B. Weil have since passed on.
Jack A. was known as the "Oldest CEO in America".
He was 107 years old and a huge parade in downtown Denver celebrated his very full life.
The Rockmount demin shirt in the final scenes of the movie "Brokeback Mountain" originally auctioned off on 'ebay' for somewhere around $32,000.

More to follow......do you have any thoughts or comments?

Photos courtesy of the Rockmount RanchWear website and other sources.