The celebrities who blow into Rockmount Ranch Wear’s Denver store tend to be touring musicians, whether they’re headlining nearby Ball Arena or playing sold-out shows at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. They’re some of the biggest names in the business.
“When Bruce Springsteen came in last spring, he spent over an hour and a half here, then invited us all to his concert at (Ball Arena),” said Steve Weil, the third-generation owner of the Western wear manufacturer. “He couldn’t have been nicer. There was no celebrity mentality at all, just a guy shopping for shirts.
There have also been some divas,” he added, “who I won’t name.”
Famous or no, the people who visit Rockmount’s retail flagship, at 1626 Wazee St. in Lower Downtown, are just the tip of the spur in a decades-spanning ride atop the Western-wear world. The company continues to thrive, Weil said, because it takes chances and is always pushing new designs, from marijuana-leaf embroidery to kid’s wear and bold, modern prints.
Founded in 1946 by Steve’s grandfather Jack A. Weil, Rockmount’s intricate, snap-button Western shirts have shown up on the backs of Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and every member of The Beatles. Lately, it’s been Miley Cyrus, Maren Morris, Jack White and John Legend.
They help constantly refresh the brand’s high-end appeal, Weil said, even though Rockmount has always been focused on clothes for regular folks, including hats, jackets, bolo ties, purses, buckles and even flasks. Its long- and short-sleeve shirts cost an average of $110, which may seem steep until you consider the craftsmanship and longevity, Weil said. You can also pick up a quality cowboy hat for $30.
The allure of Rockmount has led to one-off, custom collaborations with the Grateful Dead, The Avett Brothers, British rockers Alt-J, and Denver’s own Nathaniel Rateliff, as well as the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. Former Denver mayor, Colorado governor and now-U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper is an old friend of the Weil family.
On the second level of the store, where Weil keeps an open-air office, a ramshackle mini-museum that sports a collection of belt buckles alongside examples of the fame Rockmount has long enjoyed outside the music world.
James Dean and Marilyn Monroe wore Rockmount. So have Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Matthew McConaughey. Salvador Dali? Him, too.
Rockmount’s rustic, kaleidoscopic designs popped up in last year’s blockbuster “Barbie” movie, in a “Saturday Night Live” sketch, and in dozens of other big- and small-screen titles. John Travolta gave Rockmount and Western wear a lift in 1980’s “Urban Cowboy.” A shirt in the mini-museum is the same style as the one worn by Heath Ledger in the Oscar-winning “Brokeback Mountain.” The original sold for $101,000 at auction, Weil said.
“(Director) Ang Lee personally requested Rockmount for the movie,” Weil remembered. “We got one hate letter, because it was a movie about gay cowboys. I thought (the movie) was a work of art. … But we get so few complaints that I respond to them personally.”
Weil’s confidence has been forged over four decades, having joined the family business in 1981, following the steps of his grandfather and father, Jack B. Weil. The Denver store, which opened in 2005, is both the heart of the globe-spanning brand with manufacturing operations in the U.S. and India. Rockmount has been fortunate to have the celebs, film-costumers and other high-profile names come to them, as opposed to Rockmount reaching out for publicity.
“A lot of companies spend money on product placement and advertising, but we do it very organically,” Weil said. “We do what we do, and people come to us.”
Still, the bulk of its sales are wholesale — an approach that the store has emphasized since the pandemic disrupted its business. Rockmount has lately had trouble meeting demand, Weil said, although production is beginning to catch up. With more than 100 different designs available, there’s no single best-seller.
“The three legs to the stool are wholesale, the web and our flagship store,” said Weil, as his chief of security, a 7-year-old yellow Lab named Humboldt, sidled up on the store’s main level. “But we love that (variety), and this is kind of why we’re still here. We’ve somehow found this niche. We try to be different than The Gap. We’re not about widgets.”
Weil declined to say how much revenue Rockmount sees annually, but the fact that the store seems full seven days a week, from morning to afternoon, hints at its popularity. On a recent day, conventioneers and tourists speaking a variety of languages milled about its displays as Western-dressed staffers offered help.
There’s competition, of course. The estimated $75 million annual global sales in Western wear in 2020 are projected to hit $137 million by 2031, according to Allied Market Research. Iconic U.S. cowboy fashion is popular everywhere, as Rockmount learned when it sued the luxury brand Coach in 2017 for allegedly stealing the design for its Atomic Cowboy shirt.
“This is not the first time our intellectual property has been stolen,” Weil told The Denver Post at the time. “I tried to start out thinking the best of people, but sadly many in the apparel business have no integrity.”
Rockmount will surely be around another 100 years, Weil said, having woven itself into the fabric of the Western wear world. Whether simple or flamboyant, the shirts are meant to appeal to everyone.
“We get asked by the Academy Awards every year, ‘Would you like to donate product for our gift bags?,’ ” Weil said. “No! We don’t give free stuff to rich people. It’s meaningless if you give something away or pay them to wear it. Our customers wear it by choice.”