Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 30, 1994                   TAG: 9401250291
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: F-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DENVER                                LENGTH: Medium

WESTERN WEAR IS AS REAL AS ANY FASHION TODAY

It's a cowboy for sure.

Or is it?

Western clothing, a fashion once favored mainly by ranch hands, rodeo performers and people who make their living from the earth, is more popular than ever in mainstream America.

"Western wear has been trending very steadily upward for about three years," says Juliet Wright, vice president of merchandising for Denver-based Miller Stockman.

"Country dancing and country music has never been more popular than it is now, and they are driving the market. Western wear is being perceived less as costume dressing and more as weekend casual wear."

Single articles of Western clothing, she adds, also are worn as accents to other types of clothing.

Jack Weil, whose family has operated Rockmount Ranch Wear Manufacturing Co. in Denver for almost 50 years, estimates that Western clothing holds a 5 percent to 7 percent share of the nation's huge garment industry.

"As it becomes fashion, it will surge; but, actually, it is a very small part of the scheme of things," he says.

Wright says the Western clothing market actually is divided into two segments: core, for the honest-to-goodness cowboy or rancher; and crossover, for fans who are reluctant to go all the way, want to conserve money, or who just don't know what to wear and how to wear it.

Crossover customers, Wright says, include those who "don't necessarily have a farming or ranching background, but enjoy wearing Western clothing because of its quality, fit and the way it looks."

Here's how Wright describes the market:

Boots. The core market prefers the roper style with low heels, round toe and short top. Core customers also spend hundreds of dollars on custom-made footwear. Crossover customers usually prefer more modestly priced boots and often select what she described as "soft, touchy-feely" leathers with pointed toes.

Jeans. The core market favors high-backed jeans which evolved from the styles designed by Hollywood tailor Rodeo Ben in the 1940s with input from rodeo cowboys.

Shirts. Colorful shirts of wide, vertical stripes with buttons are hot with core customers. Snaps, which Weil credits his father with introducing to cowboy clothing, are becoming more important.

Hats. A fur felt hat with 4-inch brim, price range $130-$150, is the core customer's choice. Black, of course. Crossover customers will select a less-expensive hat, sometime made of wool felt.

Bob Posey, a vice president with Resistol Hat Co. in Garland, Texas, says his firm even has a line of crossover hats. This line, he says, is cheaper, since the hats usually have lower crowns and smaller brims, holding down the cost. They are offered in less-expensive wool felt.

"We have suggested retail prices on fur felt hats that run from $125 to $5,000," Posey says. "The most popular is about $140."

Boots, once available from custom makers in virtually every small town in the West, are mass-produced by several large companies. Justin of Fort Worth, Texas, is the world's largest boot-maker.

The Western clothing market "has gone through a big expansion for the past several years," Cartlidge said by telephone from Leon, Mexico, where he was overseeing boot production. "This year has seen a leveling off. You can't continue that tremendous expansion forever. But we don't see a downturn in the business."

Boot sales, Wright says, will continue to grow, even though interest in exotics, such as snakeskin, is waning.

"The Western boot on the whole is widely accepted in almost any lifestyle," Wright says.