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.”
A self-described lover of the state constitution, Huber says he has a soft spot for the state motto, “Forward.”
His father, Roy Huber, was a technician for American Motors and Chrysler for 25 years. He is also the namesake of the Roy boot, but more on that later. His mother, Joan, has been a secretary in the Kenosha Unified School District for the past 20 years. Like Huber, they too are Wisconsin-made people.
So, how does the son of Wisconsin-to-the-core parents open up one of the best men’s clothing stores in the country, if you believe the hype? Simple. Huber loves jeans. He loves hard work. He knows what he wants, and how to get it. And? He’s got that Midwestern charm.
“People from the coasts come to Wisconsin and say, ‘Everyone is so friendly.’ No one’s waving to you and saying ‘hi’ to you in New York walking down Broadway … in Wisconsin if you’re [on a motorcycle] (which he often is) on a country road, every guy will wave to each other,” Huber says.
Huber is the proud owner of a 1982 Honda CB-750 f. It may not be a Harley, but that is a man’s bike. Last summer, while riding his Honda the engine blew up. He was wearing a white t-shirt, a helmet and denim. Just denim? Unperturbed, he replied, “Really solid, 14oz Japanese denim.” No leather. (Men, take note.)
“Very James Dean,” I comment in response to the white ‘T’ and jeans.
“I wear a lot of white t-shirts and jeans on a motorcycle,” he responds. “I’d say more Steve McQueen than James Dean. James Dean always drove Porsches, he drove motorcycles too, but Steve McQueen — he’s the man!”
Huber has built his business on good old-fashioned Wisconsin friendliness, and a heaping spoonful of cool, a la Steve McQueen.
Context’s small, devoted staff, self-described fantastic eye for spotting good brands and excellent customer service are some of the characteristics he says sets them apart from other men’s clothing stores in the country.
“We are tiny. It’s basically a three-man operation. So when you answer an e-mail at four in the morning, its like holy shit. Do you guys sleep?” Huber says.
Huber and I are sitting in Madison’s, a bar down the block from Context and named after the city he’s built his store around. He’s drinking a local microbrew (go figure) and telling me about a conversation he had with his father about ‘The Roy’-a boot named after his father.
“Hey. I named a boot after you,” Huber says to his Dad, “and it’s a fucking awesome boot.”
The Roy is a joint venture between Context and Alden, an American shoe company that manufactures 100 percent of their goods by hand in the USA. They approached Context to make the ultimate denim boot. Enter the Roy.
Huber’s father has had an important influence on why and how he understands Wisconsin men.
“My father [has] always worked with his hands. He could fix the car, fix the motorcycle. He’s very much instilled in me the value in quality craftsmanship and of American craftsmanship. He’s a very Midwestern dude,” Huber says. It was with this in mind that he created the Roy.
Huber loves America. His commitment to sourcing American-made garments and footwear borders on fanatical. Blame it on his father, he says, but transparency of production is important to him. So when Alden came knocking, it was like he’d just won the showcase on the Price is Right.
“Sam and I were amazed, like floored. Because [Alden is] one of the best companies, it’s like one of the best companies period,” Huber says.
Please take note. The Roy, Context’s best selling product, is $445, and it is currently backordered until March. According to Huber, this boot can take a beating, which is why it’s so popular here in Wisconsin.
“Midwesterners wear their clothing differently,” Huber says. “They buy less clothing and expect that clothing to last. They’re more likely to say why is this $200? I’m not fucking buying this. It’s $200?! In LA they’re gonna be, ‘What’s the hottest shit? I want it!’”
James Bickers, a longtime close friend of Huber’s and a frequent patron of Context, knows Huber and his father well, and recognizes Huber’s father’s influence on the way he runs the store.
“His dad has worked his whole life and is still dynamic,” Bickers says. “What [Huber and his father] each did to make a living couldn’t be more different, but the style with which they pursue it is so similar. He just learned a work ethic, you commit to something and you see it through.”
"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.