Meet the Makers: An interview with West Major
Arizona-based western wear brand West Major was founded by Nick Wetta with a simple goal: make vintage-inspired western shirts that are built to last. Since launching the brand in 2017, Nick has focused on small-batch production, domestic cut-and-sew manufacturing and thoughtfully sourced fabrics from around the world.
What started as a side project while working in television has slowly grown into one of the most recognizable independent western shirt brands in the country, worn by everyone from regular customers to artists like Post Malone.
Q. Tell us a bit about yourself. What were you doing before launching West Major, and what pushed you toward starting the brand?
“I just always kind of liked western shirts and clothes,” says Nick. Growing up in Arizona, he was surrounded by western architecture and style, while music pulled him toward clothing and personal style from an early age. “I used to play drums. I got really into music. And I think being into music kind of opened this door of being into style and clothes a little bit.
”While living in California during college, Nick started collecting vintage western shirts from secondhand shops. One shirt he found in Santa Barbara especially stuck with him. “I wore it all the time and I just remember thinking, ‘why aren’t there any western brands making cool shirts like this today?’”
At the time, western fashion had not yet seen the broader resurgence it has today. Nick experimented with the idea for years while working in television production in Los Angeles before finally deciding to pursue it seriously around 2017. “I was getting burned out from TV. I wanted to start a business and I was still thinking about western shirts.”
After finding a pattern maker and sourcing his first factory, Nick launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2018 to fund his first production run. By late 2019, he had quit his TV job, moved back to Phoenix, and committed fully to the business. “I was bar backing at night. Then I moved back into my mom’s house to go all in on the business.”
Q. You manufacture your garments domestically, but you’ve been open about the fact that sourcing every material in the U.S. simply is not realistic today.
What are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about American-made clothing and its supply chain?
“People will ask, ‘Is it 100% American-made?’ And I think a lot of people don’t realize that, for the most part, you can’t really get shirting-weight woven fabric in America anymore,” Nick explains. He also highlights the complexity and cost to source fabric domestically. “When I make a shirt, I’ll order 300 yards. The mills that are left in America often require 10,000-yard minimums. I don’t have a hundred grand to drop on one shirt.”
While West Major cuts and sews its garments domestically, many of its fabrics are sourced internationally because the U.S. textile infrastructure simply no longer supports small-batch apparel production. Some components are no longer manufactured domestically at all. “Even our pearl snaps. You can’t get those in America. They don’t exist.”
Rather than treating manufacturing as a black-and-white issue, Nick believes there needs to be more nuance around what supporting American production actually looks like today. “If the goal is to make more stuff in America, there might be ways to do so without having an entire line be 100% American-made,” he says. “People like to put brands into these little boxes. But what if every clothing company made one thing in America? You’d actually end up with way more manufacturing here overall.”
That balance between domestic production, quality materials, and realistic pricing has become a defining part of West Major’s approach. Nick focuses on building garments that feel timeless, durable, and thoughtfully made, even if that means navigating a complicated global supply chain to get there.
Q. Your brand has gained visibility
organically, with artists like Post
Malone wearing your shirts.
How did that growth happen,
and what advice do you have for
fellow small businesses that are
looking for more exposure?
“I think we’ve just been around long
enough,” he says. “I’ve just been making
western shirts and posting about them since 2017. There’s this pressure online for fast success. Every week there’s a story about some brand making a billion dollars after launching 12 months ago. But I like the longer-road stories.”
At the same time, he admits that marketing is difficult when most of the business is consumed by production logistics. “A huge amount of my time is just coordinating factories, fabrics, labels, washing, shipping. That’s the reality when you’re making things this way. I don’t have that much time for marketing.”
Q. What’s been the biggest challenge in building an independent apparel brand?
“Cash flow has been a major challenge. A clothing brand is one of the easiest businesses to start, but one of the hardest to sustain long term.” Sizing, forecasting and production minimums create constant financial pressure. “You can’t just restock 20 larges. You have to place another big order because of the minimums.”
Managing inventory without overproducing has become one of the hardest parts of scaling responsibly. “What fabrics do you order? When do you order them? How much do you order? Balancing all that without running out of money is crazy.”
Still, Nick remains optimistic about the future of American manufacturing, especially automation. “Most factories I talk to can’t find enough sewers,” he explains. “I don’t think automation replaces jobs, I think it extends the life of these factories.”
For Nick, the future of domestic apparel production depends on making manufacturing more accessible and scalable without sacrificing quality. “I think the mass production side could become more automated, while the really skilled sewers move more into custom work and alterations,” he says.
Don’t forget to check out West Major, now available on Aware House.
