With one of our favorite summer music festivals (Lollapalooza) getting closer and closer, we can’t help but get a little nostalgic for the Windy City. What you may not know is that Chicago is actually a mecca for fashion, and is currently turning out some of the best designers and fashion start-ups. One of these companies shaking up the fashion scene is Stock Manufacturing Co. Launched back in early February, Stock Mfg. Co. has a fairly simple mission: to produce high-quality, American-made fashion at the lowest possible price. How do they do this you may ask? By collaborating with emerging designers, and every couple of weeks featuring pre-sales of the designer’s pieces and designs on their site (stockmfg.co). Similar to Kickstarter, the Stock Manufacturing consumer then gets to decide if the item(s) featured on the site should get produced or not. Once enough people purchase the item during the pre-sale Stock Mfg. will finance and manufacture the product in-house within their factory. And it gets even better! Once an item is approved Stock Mfg. doesn’t charge any additional fees to the designer, or charge shipping fees! Pretty cool right?
We love this idea of not only supporting emerging talent but also giving the consumer a voice in what they are purchasing. This is one cool company, that five cool guys (with a crazy amount of fashion experience) have really pulled off. To see what is on the docket for this week (don’t worry they feature and sell women’s clothing too), or purchase product from Stock’s collection of jackets, shirts, bow ties, pocket squares and jackets, head over to their site!
This week’s stockist spotlight has carried Habitual for the last two and a half years and has been included in the History of Denim and named by Nylon Magazine as one of the top 50 stores in the world. Located in what used to be an original A&P grocery store in Highland Park, IL, a northern suburb of Chicago, E Street Denim Company has customers come from all over the country because of their large selection of denim. E Street Denim Company has been around for over 22 years and houses nearly 12,000 pairs of jeans! Among the 12,000, you’ll find some of Habitual’s favorites, including our Amalia in Licorice, Eve in Licorice, Angelina in French Moss, Amalia in Bayou and Alice Skinnys in Chianti. Here are a couple of photos of Habitual at E Street!
E Street Denim Co.
1876 First Street
Highland Park, IL 60035
P:847-433-8338
F: 847-433-8423
Store Hours
Monday-Friday 10am-6pm
Saturday 10am-5:30pm
Sunday 12pm-5pm
Stumbled across this photo of people overlooking the city of Chicago on the 103rd floor of a building. It almost looks like they are floating in the air!
This year’s summer music festivals are slowly dwindling down, but one of our favorites is finally here this weekend, Lollapalooza. And despite the sticky Chicago humidity and sometimes unpredictable weather (last year’s rain), Lollapalooza is the perfect weekend to wrap up the summer and enjoy amazing music with friends at Grant Park.
We put together an outfit that will keep you cool and stylish through the long and warm days with our summer favorite Thalia shorts. Pair the denim shorts with a cute white lace top for a boho look, or we found this amazing loose black top with the back holes (great ventilation) creating a skull face! Don’t forget to accessorize with over-sized shades and an arm party!
Soap star Lisa Rinna was recently seen wearing our HABITUAL Alice Skinny coated denim jeans in Licorice at the Pantages Theatre Opening Night performance of ‘Chicago’ in Los Angeles. Lisa looked chic and sophisticated, completing her ensemble with a sequined top, blazer and heels. Although Rinna sat in the audience this time, in 2009, she actually starred in “Chicago” as Roxie Hart along with her husband Harry Hamlin as Billy Flynn!
Stylish, Portland-based coffee shop Stumptown Coffee Roasters is known for its hip décor, even hipper baristas, and an obsession with coffee rivaled only by the oenophiles. While the coffee itself can’t come from the U.S. (with the exception of Hawaii, coffee doesn’t survive here), the mini-chain was developed and grown by founder Duane Sorenson in Portland, OR.
Except for one New York café in the lobby of the Ace Hotel at 29th and Broadway, all Stumptown locations are in Portland, but the New York Times reports that Stumptown is now primed to expand to Brooklyn, Chicago and San Francisco, thanks to a new investment. Just like indy bands that go commercial, the loyalists are up in arms and implying that Sorenson is a sellout, but we’re excited to add a bit of diversity into the coffee bar marketplace. We hope to hear similar news from Chicago/LA based Intelligentsia soon!
Stumptown borrows it’s brand name from an old Portland nickname, which became part of the vernacular in the 1840’s, as the city rapidly expanded outward and tree stumps were left on the middle of the roads. Check out the Stumptown website for a really great brewing guide that shows you how to make the perfect cup at home, no matter what kind of equipment you have.
