Rockmount Ranch Wear

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DENVER (AP) -- Its Western shirts have been worn by everyone from Elvis Presley in "Love Me Tender" to Heath Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain." Actor Clark Gable and singer Bob Dylan also sported Rockmount Ranch Wear shirts, and when the Democratic National Convention rolls around, each member of Colorado's House delegation will have his or her own custom-made shirt. "The bottom line is, we are unique," said Steve Weil, Rockmount's president and the grandson of 107-year-old Jack A. Weil, the company's founder, fondly known as "Papa Jack." "We are the last domestic manufacturer of our type of product," Steve Weil said. Rockmount is a family-owned business that has stayed competitive in the global market. Papa Jack was the first to design Western shirts with snap buttons.

"He says he made it so cowboys couldn't get hung up on their saddles. I think it was a success because cowboys didn't like, or know how, to sew on buttons." That's his grandson Steve Weil explaining the business to me while we walk around the company store in downtown Denver. Rockmount Ranch Wear is the name of the company. It was founded in 1946 and what Jack Weil did was catch on to the culture of the times.

Rockmount Ranch Wear , the western clothing apparel company he founded in 1946. Customers flock to the store's headquarters in Denver for more than just rodeo wear.

Published November 2007 Every morning, Jack Weil greets his customers from a desk set up at the front of Rockmount Ranch Wear's flagship store in Denver. He doesn't let anyone pass him by without first asking where they are from. It's a typical routine for many entrepreneurs in the retail world -- except, at 106 years old, Jack Weil is far from the typical entrepreneur. After more than 60 years with Rockmount, the wholesale western wear business he founded in 1946, Weil still delights at the universal fascination with the West and almost can't believe the distance that customers will travel for the Rockmount brand. "The surprising thing is the number of people that come into our place from all over the world," Weil says. "There's something about cowboys, I guess." More than a century old, Weil is somewhat of a celebrity in Denver. Indeed, he is widely believed to be the oldest CEO in the United States. Throughout his years, Weil has overseen the growth of Rockmount from a modest wholesale business that marketed to cowboys in the Western United States, to a recognizable international brand, and a timeless staple of the American fashion industry.

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