America’s “oldest working CEO” passed away on Wednesday at the ripe old age of 107.
The inventor of the first western style shirts with snap buttons, Jack A. Weil obviously spotted a market for City Slicker western wear long before the Billy Crystal movie, telling Mark Wolf at Rocky Mountain News:
“The cowboy business wasn’t an industry… There wasn’t enough of them, and they didn’t make enough money. They’d come to town, get drunk and the next month do it again. I felt there was a market from Middle Westerners and Easterners and we could take advantage of the popularity of Western movies. In the East you had to make it casual wear. I saw an opportunity to make a difference.”
The Rockmount Ranch Wear company has been going in Denver, Colorado since 1946 and has been worn by many a celebrity including the sadly deceased Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain.
