"I refer to everyone as pants. My friends and my loved ones ..." Huber says.

Huber’s commitment to creating the store’s aesthetic and atmosphere might come from his father, but his grandfather has also had a profound influence on his life.

When you walk into Context, one of the first things you’ll notice is the stuffed lioness. It’s on loan to Huber from J. Taylor’s Antiques (if you’ve got $11,000 and space for a lion, shoot Huber an e-mail). After that shock, if you look closely, you’ll see a pair of 1950s, Everlast boxing shoes hanging from one of the clothing racks. Black, real beat-up and vintage-looking, they are the retired shoes of Melzer Rhey, Huber’s maternal grandfather, a Gold Glove boxing coach.

According to Huber, his grandfather loved two things: boxing and fishing. Nicknamed “Bear Grease,” Melzer was “hard as nails.” When Huber talks about his grandfather, his voice softens, his piercing, all-American blue gaze drops down to the table and his energy turns inward.

“My grandfather’s approach to life in general is just kind of like: you get what you deserve,” Huber says quietly. “If you work hard and you do things right, you live a clean life, you’ll end up alright. You are who you make an effort [to be] and who you surround yourself with. That’s his approach.”

He taught Huber how to make a fist and throw a punch at the age of five. Throw a jab, keep your wrist straight, bend your thumb around your middle finger. Keep your fist flat, because the more surface area on your fist, the better.

It was true love from that first punch. The past two houses Huber has lived in, he’s built small boxing gyms, and is working on putting one in the basement of Context. He’s got a fascination with old boxers: Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Leonard. He is thinking of naming the gym “the Mongoose gym” after Archie “the Mongoose” Moore, who holds the record for most knockouts in the history of boxing. Huber predicts amateur bouts in the Mongoose gym before the year is out.

When you first meet Huber, two thoughts hit you instantly. First, wow is he well-dressed. Like, Clive Owen meets the Midwest well-dressed. Even if you don’t know anything about clothes, you know Huber has got it. How does he define well dressed?

“Fit is number one. Do your clothes fit you properly? If they don’t, you need to reevaluate,” Huber says.

After that initial gasp, his intensity hits you like a second wave. This is a guy that knows what he wants, how to get it, and damn it if you’re in his way. His friends describe him as a perfectionist, but to him it’s just drive and focus, with a little bit of knowing exactly what he wants.

“My number one talent is staying focused and going for it. Seeing something, making a decision and making it happen,” he says.

Huber has formed his own identity with the same meticulous, compulsive attention to detail he poured into creating Context’s image, but according to people who know him well, none of it is inauthentic.

“He is kind of a caricature of this cool guy, but I think he would think that’s embarrassing, because he’s not trying that hard, you know. Huber is just a natural guy,” Bickers says.

At times, his prototypical cool, American-man persona is a bit overbearing and seems contrived. Does he really love jeans, rock-and-roll, boxing and motorcycles that much? His friends and colleagues bust his balls for being a neo-Marlin Brando type, but Huber is who he is. There is nothing inauthentic about him or his store.

Yes, he really loves boxing, yes, he really does enjoy Zeppelin (Sir Lord Baltimore, MC5 and Black Sabbath too) and yes, he does ride a motorcycle in jeans and a plain t-shirt. Huber has been able to channel all those passions into something he loves doing.

“His passion rubs off on people. Whether its about clothes or a piece of music…its contagious,” Bickers says.