Habitual Jeans

Warning: Habitual Jeans are finely crafted, dangerously cool, and will make you very, very happy. Feel free to abuse the feeling.

Talking to Michael Colovos about his new denim line Habitual is like talking to a scientist who has been in the lab too long. "First, you have the fabric, whether it's the heavier Japanese denim or the made-in-the-USA variety," says the methodical and obsessive 31-year-old New Yorker. "Then you have the hardware: YKK zippers [the Energizer bunny of zippers]; the snaps, imported from Italy, and round, not flat, so after intense washing you can see the wear of the snap poking through a bomber jacket...You know that raised silhouette? I like that little touch." Feel some indigo impulses coming on? "Then come the Caroza buttons--also imported from Italy--made out of nut shells dyed perfectly to match the desired tint of the jeans." Linings and warmers follow: pristine white popcorn fleece, gray rip stop cotton, and detachable faux-fur hood trimmings with hidden collars underneath. Yes, Colovos sounds a touch mad as he patters on about washes, tints, dips, and fades, but his denim-possessed mind is a perfect fit for our denim-obsessed world. Read more...