By Marley Magaziner
New jean store on N. 3rd St. offers 30 different brand names, and a dozen denim variations, including stretch, raw and aged. Photo by Sam Yocum.
The search for the perfect jeans can be a lifelong obsession, and with the recent arrival of Brooklyn Denim Co. to North Brooklyn, those denim dreams are at hand. Partners Frank Pizzurro, Sam Yocum, and Evan Hecht, have opened a bright, airy denim boutique with jeans in every flavor. While their best-selling jeans, says Pizzuro, are the skinny fit and legging jeans for women, other popular styles of denim jeans for both men and women, include distressed, rigid, shrink to fit, flare, high-waisted, aged, vintage, raw, rinsed, and bleached, to name a few. The designer labels include AG, James Jeans, Hudson, Levis XX, Habitual, Made & Crafted, Rogan, Tellison, Men Without a Country, and Simon Miller.
Pizzurro, who conceived of the business, knows denim and the business of it well. He began his career in the apparel business in the mid-80s, working for American Rag and Antique Boutique. He helped launch the first retail outlets for both Diesel and Dolce & Gabbana, and served as vice president of retail for Lucky Brands and AG Adriano Goldschmied. After some time as chief operations officer at ABC Home, Pizzurro decided to take his background in denim retail, and create his own denim boutique.
“I always wanted to open my own store, and have been walking around Williamsburg where there’s more denim per square inch than anywhere. I’m walking around, and everyone’s wearing jeans, but there’s no jeans stores, and with my background it made sense.”
Chalk it up to Pizzurro’s experience finding retail spaces and opening stores, or perhaps the lagging economy leaving loft-like spaces open for the picking. With full windows on two sides, high ceilings, and a sparkling crystal chandelier, the renovated corner space is constantly full of bright, clean light that brings out the subtle differences in every shade and style of denim.
Brooklyn Denim Co. specializes in American-made denim and local brands, although they do carry a few European lines. “We’re stressing local—small, local entrepreneurs. Denim-wise there’s not a lot made [in New York], but most denim is made in the U.S.,” Pizzurro says. And the partners are in the preliminary stages of creating their own line of Brooklyn Denim Co. jeans which they hope to debut in spring 2011.
“We want to do a brand that’s one hundred percent made in the USA, and manufactured in New York. It’s coming along slowly; getting denim, and trim, and all that, is not that difficult, but sewing denim is a more complicated issue,” says Pizzuro. Beyond that, he stresses that the real selling point will be the quality and fit. “We’re going to use the best denim we can get from Cone Mills, one of the oldest denim factories in the country.”
The store offers 30 brands of pants in a wide range of price points.Women’s jeans are priced from $70 to $385; jeans for men range from $80 to $385. An even larger selection is planned for fall. The store also provides in-house hemming and tailoring.
Brooklyn Denim Co
85 North 3rd Street (entrance on Wythe Ave)
(718) 782-2600
www.brooklyndenimco.com
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