Chip & Pepper

Denim is hot, and so is new Chaud

Chaud Jeans, with its premium denim and fun T-shirts, has joined the lineup of fashionable shops in downtown Royal Oak.

Expect to see jeans by Frankie B., Chip and Pepper, and the brand 575 -- which store owner Kristy Rogers was wearing the other day. (She loves them because the jeans are distressed by hand, as opposed to being beaten up by a machine. "There's no two pair the same," she says.)

Chaud (which is pronounced "show" and means "hot" in French) opened Sept. 19 and carries about a dozen brands of jeans (sizes 28 to 38 for men; sizes 24 to 34 for women, which translates into sizes 0 to 14). More will be added.

Jeans begin at $71 and, right now, top out at $230.

"People ask, 'What makes them that expensive?' " says Rogers, who is 26 and lives in Royal Oak and previously sold industrial maintenance products. (Her business partner is her brother-in-law, Jason Hochstein, who left his job as assistant park superintendent at Stony Creek Metropark to start the store.)

The answer: The denim is ultra high quality. It's soft. It wears well. Some of it is embellished with embroidery. Read More...