It’s approaching the seven-minute mark. Ryan Huber has been talking about one pair of jeans for seven straight minutes and I am hanging on every word, as if he were describing the best way to run a spread offense or Megan Fox’s hips. I dare you to engage me in a 420-second description of $600, 50-pair production run, hand-dyed, spun, cut and sewn pair of Japanese dry-selvedge jeans.

Huber, creative director for noted men’s clothing store, Context, is a Wisconsin-made man. Born and raised in Kenosha, Huber dropped out of college at UW-Madison for three years to save up money and figure out his life. Initially an advertising major, he became disenchanted with the idea of lying in selling and gave up school to work in the bar industry for a bit.

Bouncing back and forth between downtown Madison bars like Natt Spill, The Great Dane and Paul’s Club, Huber eventually met Sam Barker, then a manager at The Great Dane and now co-owner of Context. Eventually, he went back to UW-Madison for a BFA in video art, graduating the same month he and Sam opened the store.

Context and its online counterpart, contextclothing.com, is a men’s clothing store specializing in high-end denim, ranging in price from $160 to $400+ per pair. Huber, Barker and Barker’s brother, Ben, established the downtown Madison store in December 2005 and since then the business has expanded rapidly.

In 2007, the boys at Context introduced contextclothing.com, which now accounts for roughly 50 percent of their business and allows them to ship to over 40 countries, including South Africa, Estonia and Singapore.

Featured in the popular men’s lifestyle magazine Esquire, Context was dubbed one of the best men’s clothing stores in the Midwest. Daily News Record Magazine named Context one of the top 50 most influential men’s stores in the country and in 2006, just one year after opening, GQ named Context one of the top 100 best men’s stores in the United States.

Much of his success is due to Huber’s artistic vision for the store and his obsession with denim. As creative director, Huber is responsible for every visual detail of the store’s interior and its online shop. He has a strong vision and won’t stop until it’s been realized. Plus, he loves pants. Spend more than 30 seconds with Huber and pants will definitely come up.

“I refer to everyone as pants. My friends, and my loved ones, my family, my work, my mom included. If we talked about anything we’ve just talked about, its like can we talk about something other than pants?” Huber says.

“Sure” I say, “What’s your favorite Led Zeppelin album?”

“What does this have to with pants?” he asks. “Ahh, you’re just like the rest.”

His love of pants, especially great denim, is deeply rooted in the rugged tradition of American jean manufacturers like Levi’s. Huber’s appreciation for rugged, work-a-day denim comes from his upbringing here in Wisconsin.

A self-described lover of the Wisconsin State Constitution, Huber also enjoys listing the state symbols and has a soft spot for the state motto, “Forward.”