I typically enjoy getting emails from the Republicans serving in the Colorado legislature, especially during the legislative session, and especially when they are celebrating all things ranch-oriented.
Last week, for example, the Senate Republicans honored Rockmount Ranch Wear, at the instigation of Senator Marc Catlin. (Senator Catlin is at the far right in the photo above. More accurately, second from right. I don’t know who the woman is, at the very far right, but it’s not Senator Catlin. Which is not to say that Senator Catlin isn’t himself “very far right” in a certain sense of the term.)
Last week’s email from the Republicans mentioned the fight to protect our Second Amendment Rights, Republican support for School Choice Week, and a visit by some 4-H kids.
4-H is a program that “preserves the Western spirit on which our state was founded.” Historically speaking, it’s that very “Western spirit” that drives people to raise cattle and sheep and other edible animals, while wearing appropriate clothing.
It was, however, the brief blurb about Rockmount Ranch Wear that caught my attention:
On Thursday, Senator Catlin hosted Rockmount Ranch Wear on the floor of the Senate to celebrate its 80th anniversary. This iconic brand swapped shirt buttons for snaps so bull riders could get away when they were caught on the horns. It is also the first apparel company to commercially produce bolo ties.
The Republicans in the Colorado legislature are at a distinct disadvantage in 2026, in terms of getting bills passed by the overwhelming majority of legislators who claim to be Democrats. Quite simply stated, Colorado is seriously short of Republicans.
But Republicans in the legislature are free to celebrate Western Ranch Wear all day long, and no one is going to complain. Me, least of all. I might be one of Colorado’s biggest fans of Western Ranch Wear. You should see my impressive collection of bolo ties.
No brag, just fact.
And there’s no purveyor of Ranch Wear more suited to be honored by the General Assembly Republicans than the folks at Rockmount Ranch Wear.
From the Rockmount website:
Jack A. Weil, born in 1901, grew up a real cowboy. Attending rodeos and being in the industry, Jack saw firsthand bull riders tearing their shirts on the horns of the bull while riding. It sparked an idea… if you have a western shirt with snaps instead of buttons, when the bull’s horn gets caught on the rider’s shirt it will unsnap rather than rip through the material or worse.
The website does not tell us what might be worse than having your shirt torn by a bull’s horns.
But it does note that Mr. Weil, at age 45, purchased a five-story building in downtown Denver and founded Rockmount Ranch Wear Manufacturing Company, selling “his signature Western shirt designs with sawtooth pockets and pearl diamond snaps, amongst other western wear products.”
Rockmount still operates out of this same building today.
“Papa Jack didn’t just create a new kind of shirt, he started a whole new fashion,” explains Jack Weil’s grandson, Steve Weil, the company’s current President & Chief Creative Officer.
“He gave those who identify with the American Western way of life a style tailored specifically for them. Rockmount stands out from other fashion companies because we have maintained a consistency of design across three generations.
“We go our own direction and don’t look to other brands for our inspiration.”
Sort of like the Republicans in the Colorado legislature.
If I were a Republican legislator, I would want to wear a shirt with snaps instead of buttons. Let the Democrats wear buttons, if they think it doesn’t matter.
I learned from the Rockmount website that numerous celebrities have been photographed wearing distinctive Rockmount shirts. Elvis. John Lennon. Paul McCartney. Bob Dylan. Robert Plant. Bruce Springsteen. Jerry Garcia. Eric Clapton. John Fogerty.
13 pages of celebrities.
None of the people featured on the first page were actually cowboys.
But we all know how dangerous it can be, playing a guitar, or singing into a microphone.
You could tear your shirt. Or worse.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.