Denver Business Journal

Listen to this article11 min

At first glance, Rockmount Ranch Wear may look like a typical Western apparel store. Traditional snap-button shirts fill the racks. Cowboy hats hang on its walls beside framed photos of cattlemen.

Take a closer look at the photos, however, and you’ll also see the faces of Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Tom Brady, Johnny Depp, Ronald Reagan and dozens more celebrities sporting the store’s iconic designs.

Even though the five-story, 30,000-square-foot store located on Wazee Street has achieved fame around the world, it has remained a local, family-owned operation since Jack A. Weil founded it in 1946.

Connect with a community of local professionals.

Weil is credited by many with the invention of the snap-button Western shirt, which allowed bull riders to quickly open or close their clothing if it was caught on a steer’s horn.

Nearly 80 years later, the tight-fitting shirt he pioneered — complete with yokes on the front and the back, snap buttons, stylized pockets and cuffs — can be found on the shelves of most Western stores and on the backs of ranchers across the country.

expand

A shirt is displayed at Rockmount Ranch Wear on Dec. 3, 2024, in Denver.

Seth McConnell | Denver Business Journal

Outfitting Colorado cowboys, A-list celebrities, politicians and beyond has helped three generations of the Weil family turn the brand into a Denver institution.

“That’s the beauty of it: They took something that was old and adapted and evolved it,” U.S. Sen. and former Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said. “Stories like theirs have an undeniable authenticity that fascinates people. It’s a point of definition for a city like Denver that’s changing so fast.”

Before Rockmount earned attention from celebrities and established itself as a cultural centerpiece in Denver, it began with Jack A. Weil, affectionately referred to as “Papa Jack.”

“He was a living legend,” Hickenlooper said.

“He was sharp as a tack, a witty, nice guy, a real old-school gentleman,” said Andrew Hudson, a friend of the Weil family.

“He just loved people, and loved what he did,” said Gretchen Bunn, a longtime family friend and store employee.

To Steve Weil, the current president and chief creative officer of Rockmount, he was grandpa.

expand

Steve Weil poses for a portrait with Humboldt at Rockmount on December 3, 2024, in Denver.

Seth McConnell | Denver Business Journal

“He was a hero growing up,” Steve said. “Everyone was awed by him.”

The Rockmount founder learned about apparel production during World War I, when he was in high school. Jack was convinced there was a market for a distinct Western fashion identity, and sought to create that market in 1946 when he purchased the building Rockmount still occupies today.

“He brought cowboy culture, expressed in clothing, to Colorado,” Bunn said.

Rockmount officially became a family business in 1954, when Papa Jack’s son, Jack B., joined the team, expanding the product beyond Colorado.

“Jack B. was a great guy,” Hudson said. “He was an artist, a talented painter. Perhaps a little bit of an eccentric.”

Jack B.’s son, Steve, originally had no intention of working for the family business and considered obtaining a law degree. After an article about an overabundance of attorneys scared him off that career path, Steve joined Rockmount in 1981.

He took over the business after more than a decade working there.

Until the early 2000s, Rockmount dealt in wholesale business, selling to stores in the U.S. and some abroad. Its Wazee headquarters served as offices, a warehouse and a showroom for multiple decades before the team introduced retail.

Bunn originally approached Steve with the idea, she said. Rockmount opened a store at the Colorado Mills mall in 2004, and it was a success. A year later, it added retail in its flagship store in the Union Station neighborhood and closed its mall location.

Rockmount’s Western clothing ranges from $39.50 cotton T-shirts to $178 woven, long-sleeve shirts with original design details like sawtooth pockets and diamond snaps. The store also sells items like belts, buckles, purses, scarves, bolo ties, blankets and tea towels.

Like his two predecessors, Steve has had a hand in designing all of them. Inspiration comes to him “when the spirit moves him,” he said, sometimes daily.

“It’s in my DNA,” he said.

Rockmount has sold to thousands of customers across the country,  some famous, some not. The famous ones, though, are usually who make headlines.

Bob Dylan wore a Rockmount shirt while accepting the Medal of Freedom in 2012. Heath Ledger, Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal sported the brand while starring in the 2005 neo-Western romantic drama “Brokeback Mountain.” Elton John wore a vintage, floral Rockmount shirt in a “Saturday Night Live” appearance.

The Weil family wasn’t aware of Rockmount’s celebrity appeal until Steve discovered Elvis Presley wearing the brand in the 1956 movie “Love Me Tender” decades after it came out.

“The funny thing is, my grandfather and father were amused by the notoriety,” Steve said. “They grew up without it and it happened in the later stages of their careers. They were never motivated by it, just amused.”

Now, celebrity sightings are not uncommon at the store.

expand

James Holmes browses a rack of shirts at Rockmount on Dec. 3, 2024, in Denver.

Seth McConnell | Denver Business Journal

“It’s a pretty regular occurrence for Steve,” Hudson said. “Bruce Springsteen will come in and just hang out in the store, grab some shirts. And then you’ll see Steve in the front row shaking his hand while he’s jamming on the stage with rock stars.”

And while Steve says the celebrity appeal is “extremely valuable” to the brand, it’s not the business’s driving force.

Rockmount doesn’t pay celebrities to wear the clothing, Steve said. Stars wear the products because “they like it.”

“We don’t make things for celebrities,” Steve said. “We make things for people, period. If rock stars like it, that’s great. But to me, what’s most important is winning the confidence of the public. That’s what we work hard to maintain.”

Rockmount’s impact reaches beyond its classic shirt designs and rock star appeal — its longevity in its downtown location is also legendary.

Outside of Rockmount, a street sign reads “Jack A. Weil Way.” Former Denver Mayor Hickenlooper renamed the street when Papa Jack turned 105 in 2006.

expand

A street sign marks Jack A. Weil Way on the block of the Rockmount storefront on December 3, 2024, in Denver.

Seth McConnell | Denver Business Journal

The decision not only honored the “famous generosity” of Papa Jack, but was also a nod to Rockmount’s “preservation of the Western heritage of Colorado.”

“Cities grow and succeed because of stories,” Hickenlooper said. “We’ve all got stories. But the people that help define and provide nutrition to the growth of a city are often entrepreneurs … like Papa Jack.”

Places like Rockmount help both born-and-raised Denverites and newcomers understand the city’s history and its Western heritage, former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb said.

“The promotion of our Western heritage is something that makes people want to visit,” he added. “When they arrive in Denver... you take them to Red Rocks, things that other places don’t have. Rockmount is part of that history.”

The downtown outpost has become a tourist destination over the years.

The New York Times advised its readers in August to visit the store in its latest “36 Hours in Denver” article. Visit Denver promotes Rockmount as an “Old West attraction.”

Steve has met many travelers who come to Denver to see the shop and catch a celebrity making a visit to pick up some shirts.

To Steve, it means Rockmount is doing something that can’t be replicated anywhere else.

“We’ve created a design and voice for the brand that has percolated for decades,” he said. “It’s part of why we’re relevant and alive today. Sometimes things snowball. I guess we’re doing something right.”

Both Jack B. and Papa Jack died in 2008. Papa Jack worked until he was 107 years old, and was believed to be the oldest CEO in history.

Steve, who is currently working on his third book recounting his memories with Papa Jack, lost both close family and his mentors that year, he said.

“I feel their presence now, even though they’ve been gone for 16 years,” Steve said. “It permeated everything. I spend most of my time in this building, the space they built their careers and our business.”

The loss was especially acute for Steve when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. He longed for his father and grandfather’s guidance. Instead, he relied on what they taught him.

He remembered his late grandfather’s advice, he said, which was to keep investing in the business: “Every downturn is part of a cycle, and it’ll come back around,” Steve recalls. “The key thing is investing in your business all along so that when it comes back, you’re on top.”

Rockmount earned an essential business designation because it produced bandanas, which were used in place of masks during a shortage of face protection. During that time, Rockmount kept all its employees on the payroll and continued shipping products out.

But the business did take a hit, especially on the production side. Steve said Rockmount is “deeply oversold,” and is still challenged by back orders due to being unable to meet demand for its intricately designed shirts.

expand

Wendy Weil rings up Axel Durham at Rockmount on December 3, 2024, in Denver.

Seth McConnell | Denver Business Journal

The store now has about 25 employees in Denver and about 100 more manufacturing the goods. It makes its products “all over the U.S. and abroad,” Steve said.

Steve doesn’t want the company to get too big or submit to a “long, painful death” he is sure would occur if Rockmount ever sold to a big box store or to online retailers.

Mom-and-pop stores often close when faced with big business competition. Steve said that pressure impacts Rockmount, which has “always supported independent retailers in wholesale.”

Keeping the family business small has given Rockmount a reputation of authenticity with its customers, he said.

“People began to appreciate certain traits when they become endangered,” Steve said. “U.S. manufacturing and family businesses are in danger. When they were more prolific, it wasn’t that special. Now that we’re a survivor, it’s special.”

Small, successful businesses like Rockmount also help Denver maintain its “swag” as chain stores try and fail to replicate it, Webb said.

“Small businesses are the heart of the economic community,” Webb said. “They’ve fought to maintain their location and their business. You can’t beat authenticity like that.”

One other thing has remained consistent: Rockmount’s commitment to its Colorado roots.

“[The name] Rockmount is based on the Rocky Mountains,” Steve said. “That’s part of us.”

In the coming decades, Steve said the business has no plans to move from Colorado. But it’s unclear who will take over the Rockmount dynasty, as Steve’s son is a private banker in Los Angeles.

For now, Steve plans to “keep doing what he’s doing” but balance it with travel, horse riding, skiing and other hobbies he enjoys.

“There’s something different about a family business than any other company,” he said. “And that’s that the business is a part of the family. It’s our ethos and identity. To me, there’s no greater honor than figuring out how to keep the company relevant.”