Rockmount: Denver's Hippest Store
Forget modern designer labels, Denver's coolest shop is 61 years old
The ROCKMOUNT Ranch Wear store in Denver's fashionable LoDo district is 61 years old in 2007, but that's nothing. Its owner turns 106 in March.
What's in a shirt? Quite a lot these days, if it's a Rockmount. The snap button western shirts may have been designed over 60 years ago, but they've created quite a stir on the backs of film stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in the hit movie Brokeback Mountain.
Jack A. Weil opened the Rockmount Ranch Wear mercantile company in downtown Denver in 1946. He still turns up for work each day, just as he has for the past six decades. Weil is the oldest CEO in the country. On March 28, 2007 he celebrates his 106th birthday!
'Papa Jack' set out to create a unique western look all those years ago, and with Rockmount he elevated the common work shirt to the style equivalent of Frye boots and Stetson hats. Far more than a mere fashion item, the shirts were designed with the rugged life of the cowboy and rancher in mind.
The cut was slim fitting, to lessen the chance of getting snagged on brush or barbed wire while riding and working the range. The useful flap pockets fastened securely. But the shirt's key feature was the use of snaps instead of buttons, allowing it to pop open rather than tear loose if it caught on something.
Rockmount shirts were the first snap-fastened shirts to be sold commercially, and their 'Sawtooth' pocket and 'Diamond' snap design is thought to have been in production longer than any other style in the country.
The Rockmount store is housed in a historic 1908 brick building on Wazee Street in Denver's Lower Downtown, or LoDo. Then, the area was the heart of a booming supply town to the great frontier. Today, it's the trendiest part of the city, full of bars, clubs and restaurants. Rockmount is the last of the old warehouses in LoDo still operating as such.
While the age of the cowboy declined, the popularity of Western wear spread around the world. It was Papa Jack who coined the memorable phrase: "The West is not a place, it is a state of mind."
Papa Jack's son, Jack B., and his grandson Steve have both expanded the company. Today the store sells a range of Western wear and accessories for men, women and children.
On the store's mezzanine floor is a free museum that tells the story of Western clothing in America. And Steve Weil's book "Western Shirts: A Classic American Fashion," is an enjoyable look at early styles in this niche apparel.
What goes around comes around in the fashion world. The eternally popular Rockmount shirt has been worn by rock stars from Elvis to Eric Clapton, and movie stars such as Tom Hanks, Robert Redford and Nicholas Cage.
The Rockmount shirt worn by Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain went for over $100,000 at a charity auction. In Denver, at the their flagship store, you can get one for around $60.
The ROCKMOUNT Ranch Wear mercantile company is located at 1626 Wazee Street in downtown Denver. Tel: (303) 629-7777 or (800) 776-2566.
Visit the website: www.rockmount.com
For information on Denver call (800) 2-DENVER or visit www.denver.org
