Cowboys and ranchers wear bolo ties because a bolo dresses up a working shirt without getting in the way — no long tie to catch on livestock, fence wire or machinery, and the same piece slides up snug for the grandstand or church. Go to any rodeo and you will see them everywhere.
Mine trade silver and turquoise for the Pacific, but they are built just as ranch-ready: a cord, a pair of tips, and a slide that stays put. Ember Stone is a curated stone slab speckled in red-brown, purple and gold flecks on braided leather with copper tips; Lava Glow is a dark chocolate cowrie lit with an orange-gold speckled field on dark pink cord with brass tips; and Dark Flame is an ʻopihi with a single ink-dark flame rising through its cream face. How the West got the bolo in the first place is in The History of the Bolo Tie, and how to wear one with a snap shirt is in Bolo Ties for Men.
If you want to see bolo ties in their natural habitat, go to a rodeo. Walk the grounds and you'll spot them everywhere — on competitors and spectators alike, silver and stone slides catching the afternoon sun. Out there, a bolo isn't a costume or a fashion statement. It's just what you wear.
The bolo has been part of western life for as long as it's existed. It grew up in the American Southwest alongside ranchers, cowboys, and the silversmiths of the region — and it never left.
At the rodeo
Spend a day at a rodeo and you'll find bolos for sale right beside the hats and the boots — vendor stalls lined with hand-tooled leather and stone slides, each one a little different from the last. People wear them to dress up a snap shirt for the grandstand, to compete in, to celebrate in. A rodeo is one of the few places on earth where a necktie and a pair of spurs feel like they belong on the same person.
On the ranch
Out on the ranch, the bolo earns its keep for a practical reason, too: it's neckwear that dresses up a working shirt without ever getting in the way. There's no long, loose tie to catch on livestock, fence wire, or machinery. A rancher can wear the same bolo from morning chores to church to the county fair — just by sliding it up snug or letting it ride a little lower. Comfortable, handsome, and out of the way; that's a hard combination to beat.
"The bolo has always been the necktie for people who'd rather not wear one."
The western spirit, carried forward
My bolos are made of Hawaiian shells rather than silver and turquoise, but they carry that same western soul — rugged, independent, a touch of the rebel. The bolo has always been for people who do things a little their own way, and that's a spirit I'm proud to keep alive, four thousand miles out in the Pacific.
From the rodeo grounds to the shoreline
So whether you're headed to a rodeo, working a ranch, or you just love the look, there's a bolo for you. Mine simply trade the desert for the shore — the same western classic, gone island, and every one still entirely its own.
Quick answers
Why do cowboys wear bolo ties?
Partly practicality, partly history. A bolo has no knot and no long blade of fabric — just a cord and a slide — so it dresses up a snap shirt and stays put through a working day.
The history is Southwestern. Museum accounts trace the bolo back to the scarf slides worn by both Native American and Anglo men around 1900. Victor Cedarstaff of Wickenburg, Arizona, is credited with the modern bolo in the late 1940s, and Zuni, Hopi and Navajo silversmiths have made it an art of its own — the Heard Museum in Phoenix devoted an exhibition to their bolo ties in 2011. Arizona made it the official state neckwear in 1971. It became part of western dress and stayed there.
Do you wear a bolo tie to a rodeo?
Yes. A bolo is standard western dress, so it is at home at a rodeo, on a competitor or in the stands. Slide it high for the grandstand or leave it loose for the grounds.
Is a bolo tie western wear?
Yes, and three states have put it in writing. Arizona named the bola tie its official state neckwear in 1971. New Mexico made the bolo its official state tie in 2007, signed into law on March 13 of that year, and Texas did the same by House Concurrent Resolution 12, signed on June 15, 2007. One note on dates: a few references give 1973 for Arizona; 1971 is the year most sources report.
Can you wear the same bolo from work to town?
That is the point of it. A rancher can wear one bolo from morning chores to church to the county fair by sliding it up snug or letting it ride lower — no changing, no knot. See Bolo Tie vs. Necktie.
— Aaron