We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Steve Weil. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Steve below.

Alright, Steve thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Rockmount is a 3 generation clothing manufacturing company started by my grandfather Papa Jack Weil. He worked 50 years with his son Jack B., my father. I worked with them 28 years. We are known for making the first snap shirts. Rockmount has been worn in 100s of movies and has a great following with rock stars and just folks. Elvis, Clapton, Dylan, Ronald Reagan…

We sell world wide and have 3 divisions: wholesale, web and flagship retail.

My role was to put the company on the map and reinvent it so that it stays relevant.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Rockmount is in my dna. I am the 3rd generation of my family to run it. My role is both administrative and creative. I have an mba and learned to design and merchandise on the job.

We follow a unique path. The world does not need another boring shirt. We never look at others for our inspiration. We are heavily copied by other brands but our secret weapon is launching new fresh designs monthly to stay ahead of the copy cats.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

We have a history of overcoming challenges. My grandfather lived thru the Great Depression and endured recessions every 10 years for his entire career lasting until age 107 years making him the world’s oldest CEO.

We have never had a layoff. We kept production at full capacity during the Pandemic.

During my time we have overcome natural disasters destroying our primary shirt factory in Arkansas, Nafta which destroyed the domestic textile industry, and recently the Pandemic.

We invest when times are challenging so that we can be ready when business returns. This served us during the Pandemic. We have experienced a massive increase in business and were in better shape to serve it than if we had cut production.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I joined the business we were wholesale only selling to about 1200 stores around the world. As retail collapsed due to predatory big boxes and later Amazon we pivoted by opening our flagship retail store and going online. This gave us a vertical distribution channel we had not had in the past. It also gave us direct contact with the consumer which we never had. We are fundamentally better off that we reinvented ourselves. We do not compete with our customers as we never discount prices either to large customers or ourself.

Adding our flagship retai in our historic landmark downtown Denver building gave us the opportunity to both stay in prime real estate with its high costs but also to renovate the building we have occupied since 1946. We are positioned for the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: rockmount.com
• Instagram: rockmountrw
• Facebook: RockmountRW
• Twitter: RockmountRW

Image Credits
photos courtesy of Rockmount Ranch Wear Mfg Co