“We failed,” begins a letter from Will Watters, co-founder of the apparel maker Western Rise.
“After eight years of building Western Rise, we had great products, passionate customers and glowing reviews,” Watters wrote in an Oct. 16 note to customers. “But the truth is, it wasn’t enough. We had taken on too much, moved too fast and lost sight of the foundation.”
Western Rise sells men’s clothes designed for travel with a slightly upscale feel. An average pair of pants costs $130. The company was founded in 2015 by married couple Kelly and Will Watters, who met while working as ski instructors in Vail before moving to Telluride.
Despite early success, the business went bankrupt in June 2024. The couple explained that they had borrowed beyond their means, amassing $5.4 million in debt.
Now, Western Rise is making a comeback.
“Kelly and I packed up our life in Colorado, grabbed our two-year-old and five-year-old, and moved to Vietnam,” Will Watters wrote. “Not for adventure. Not for comfort. But to rebuild Western Rise from the ground up. We moved into the chaos. The mills. The factories.”
“This is our second chance. And we’re betting everything on it,” the founder added.
Western Rise’s unusual rebrand includes a seven-episode video series on YouTube called “The Journey.” The Saigon-based company describes it as “a raw, unfiltered docuseries” filmed “through a global tariff war, factory chaos and family life in a foreign country.”
The relaunch features updated product lines with a few new linens, while maintaining the company’s focus on lightweight, breezy travelwear, as showcased on its online store.
The company’s ties to Telluride have thinned. Western Rise’s showroom in the mountain town is temporarily closed while its founders and executives are overseas, according to a spokeswoman. U.S. orders are currently fulfilled through a warehouse in Salt Lake City.
“We are in the process of moving our entire warehouse here to Vietnam as well,” Will Watters says in the first episode of “The Journey,” noting that it’s easier to ship out of Vietnam.
“To be quite honest about it, I know a lot of our customers in the U.S.”
https://www.denverpost.com/2025/10/25/after-bankruptcy-a-colorado-apparel-company-rebuilt-in-vietnam/