Some years ago, rock star Eric Clapton ordered an array of Western shirts from Denver’s Rockmount Ranch Wear. The only problem? He needed them for a concert in London the next day, and UPS would take five to seven days to ship them.
“The only way the shirts will get there in time is if I hand-deliver them myself,” writes Rockmount president Steve Weil in his new book, “Rockmount Legends.”
A few hours later, Weil was on an overnight flight to London. He delivered the shirts, sat in the front row for the concert, then went backstage, where he met not just Clapton but also Tom Hanks. Hanks agreed to pose for a photograph with Weil, who tapped a fellow standing next to him, asking if he’d mind taking the picture. The obliging photographer was Ringo Starr.
Taking the redeye to London to deliver a handful of shirts to a famous customer might have been heady stuff for a representative of a Denver shirt manufacturer. But by then, Rockmountap shirts were iconic, Weil relates in his third book about Western apparel and Rockmount. The shirts have been worn by movie stars and rock stars and even President Ronald Reagan. They’ve appeared in movies, most notably ”Brokeback Mountain,” where the Rockmount shirt itself was a star. And they’ve been worn by working cowboys and just about every Western wannabe in the country. Oh, and in Japan, England, and a dozen other countries.
Rock stars were a long way in the future when Papa Jack Weil founded Rockmount Ranch Wear in 1946. (He probably didn’t anticipate living to be the oldest CEO in the country, either. He died at 107.) The company’s signature Western shirt was designed with snap buttons, smile or sawtooth pockets and navy cuff-tags (trademarked in 1985, when Levi Strauss held the only other label-positioning trademark). Son Jack B. Weil expanded the designs, and grandson Steve, who joined in 1981, emphasized marketing.
Rockmont opened a retail outlet after the three Weils, eating lunch across from their headquarters, noticed the number of would-be buyers who were turned away because the company didn’t sell direct to the public. The Wazee Street store is now a major tourist attraction.
Celebrities discovered Rockmount shirts as far back as the 1950s. Elvis Presley wore one in his 1956 movie “Love Me Tender.” Since then, Rockmount has sold to just about everybody: John Denver, Kevin Costner, James Garner, Tim McGraw, Ken and Barbie (in the movie) and a good number of delegates to the 2008 Democratic Convention, which was held in Denver.
Bruce Springsteen wore a Rockmount shirt on his debut album, “Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ.” He wore a Rockmount belt on the album cover of “Born in the U.S.A.” Rockmount created a special edition Grateful Dead shirt. Willie Nelson wears Rockmountap signature shadow plaid shirts, as well as one with a marijuana plant on it.
Sometimes, the company finds out about celebrities wearing its shirts when a film company orders them, Weil writes. The stars themselves set up appointments with him to shop at the store. Sometimes, they just wander in, and Weil doesn’t know they’re there until a clerk tells him later.
Western fashions have maintained their popularity for 80 years, Weil maintains, because they represent the spirit of the West, which is individualism. “Western fashion emanates from the cultures that celebrate freedom and individual choice,” he writes.
Weil wrote his company’s story in a 2004 book, “Western Shirts,” a history of 70 years of development in Western wear. “Rockmount Legends” tells about the famous people who wear the company’s shirts. There are lots of pictures of celebrities, mostly rock stars, wearing the shirts and posing with Weil (who is in almost every picture).
Of course, the book is a huge promotional piece for the shirt company, but so what? Looking at all those pictures of the rich and famous posing in Rockmount shirts is liable to send readers down to the Wazee store in search of the real West.
Sandra Dallas is a Denver-based book reviewer and author.
Rockmount Legends
Author: Steve Weil
Pages: 188
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
