DDR’S FIRST NFR: A LOOK BACK

Well, we did it! We finally staked our claim at arguably the most magnificent event to happen in the Western industry every year. Double D Ranch held two booths in Las Vegas this year for the duration of the National Finals Rodeo – one at Cowboy Christmas and one at South Point.

“If you know, you know, and if you don’t know, words can’t express it,” said Mitchell. “NFR is unlike anything else you’ll ever experience. It’s the best of the best in terms of rodeo talent, and then the best of the best in terms of Western fashion, and of course it’s Vegas, so everything is opulent and ostentatious and a little over the top. The energy is electric.”

Truth be told, it kind of feels like our presence at NFR was long overdue – we do tend to set the bar in Western fashion – but we always knew it would be a massive undertaking. And boy, were we right. From manpower to marketing to literal logistics, it’s an understatement to say we navigated a lot of learning curves.

“We’ve all made light of it, joking ‘this actually IS our first rodeo!’,” laughed Audrey. “It’s just like anything you do for the first time – you don’t know what you don’t know, right? But let me tell you something, you’ve never met a crew who can roll with the punches and rise to the occasion like the team we have at Double D Ranch – everyone here putting in the hours away from their families, our gang at home who held down the fort, all the cogs in the wheel who were poised to pivot at a moment’s notice, and an especially huge shoutout to the shipping team for getting us restocked – our booth would’ve been bare without them!”

That said, once we kind of got our sea legs in Sin City, we really leaned in to all the experience had to offer.

“For starters, the Miss Rodeo America fashion show – what a production!” shared Leeann. “Mitchell and Kennadee did an incredible job, and to be in there in person was just… wow. It's pretty spectacular.”

Fortunately, for first-timers, our booths stayed beyond busy. We made a lot of new connections in the rodeo world and had the opportunity to meet a lot of people we might not have met otherwise.

“It was wild,” said Cheryl. “It was like opening a new portal. We got to see some familiar faces who actually sought us out at our booths, which is always so wonderful – shout out to our loyal Wolf Pack! And then we met so many new people – gals in the pageant circuit, folks in the rodeo circuit, people from several other countries – it was incredible. I think Hedy was best friends with about half of the rodeo contestants before it was all said and done.”

“Oh heck yeah, if they came by the booth and I got to know them, you’d better believe I was rootin’ for them!” Hedy said. “We’d go back to the house at night and watch the rodeo on TV and I’d be cheering on all my new friends like they were my own kin. I’m not gonna name names because they may not be as proud of me as I am of them, but it really made watching the events a lot of fun.”

The fashion, naturally, was next level – everyone brings out their best and boldest for Vegas! The outfits were outstanding everywhere you looked, and our own limited-edition NFR-inspired collection was so well-received we had to (repeatedly) request restocks be overnighted from Yoakum, and then we got to see it worn in real time.

“This is probably a small thing, but it was neat,” shared Leeann. “Because Vegas is in the desert and it’s pretty warm in the day but does get chilly at night, we got to see a couple people rocking their Woolies as vests during the day and then adding the fur sleeves on for a little warmth and flair at night, and it was really fun to see that transition play out.”

Y’all, we could go on and on. Ten days in Vegas simultaneously feels like a year and a blur, and we need a whole new word for “exhausted”, but man, are we proud of what we pulled off in our first go ‘round! We are so unbelievably grateful for all of you who stopped by and showed us some love, and with any luck, we’ll see y’all again next year!