\n\tSoon, Williamsburg will bid farewell to one of the retailers that helped define the neighborhood\u2019s gritty-yet-cool identity in the 2010s.<\/p>\n
\n\tBrooklyn Denim Co., located at 338 Wythe Ave, will close its doors this month after 17 years of selling, repairing and tailoring premium heritage jeans and more. While owner Frank Pizzurro plans to continue producing Brooklyn Denim Co. jeans and transition the U.S.-made brand to an online-only model, the store is currently clearing out merchandise at deep discounts through Sunday, Jan. 18.<\/p>\n
\n\tAdditionally, the store\u2019s popular repair service will remain at the same location under a new name, The Mending Station.<\/p>\n
\n\tBefore relocating in 2018 to its current location, Brooklyn Denim Co. opened in 2010 on Wythe and Third Street, offering heritage denim brands<\/a> and \u201cMade in USA\u201d jeans amongst former warehouses and factories. Though the neighborhood was beginning to tip from being a scrappy and indie to becoming the buzzy, hipster haven for 20- and 30-somethings it eventually became a caricature of, Pizzurro said there was still a strong sense of individuality. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tPrior to establishing the business, he recalls \u201cpulling back forth\u201d between Los Angeles and Brooklyn. New York\u2019s pride for individuality eventually won out.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe two differences for me were in L.A., everybody always wanted to have what everybody else had and wanted to copy everybody else. They had to have that brand, even if it didn\u2019t fit them right,\u201d Pizzurro told SJ Denim. \u201cIn New York, everybody wanted to be an individual and special. And now New York is getting a little more like how L.A. was. It\u2019s very trendy, and because of social media and TikTok, you see lines at donut and coffee shops just come out nowhere. I think the same is happening with clothing brands. It makes for short lived businesses, but it takes dollars out of the market.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOther factors\u2014such as the constant scaffolding that shrouded both locations, some inventory challenges, the slowdown in tourism after covid and the rebirth of Soho\u2019s retail<\/a> scene\u2014also weighed on Pizzurro\u2019s decision to close the shop.<\/p>\n \n\tWilliamsburg<\/a> is not getting the level of tourists it had prior to the pandemic<\/a>. As people gradually returned to New York, Pizzurro said they went back to Manhattan and now Soho is the prominent shopping destination. Locals have also tightened their wallets as housing has more than doubled since the store opened. \u201cRents here are $7,000 to $10,000 a month, so basically, what happens is people become house poor. They live in a great neighborhood, but they don\u2019t have a lot of disposable income,\u201d he said. Rising rents have also forced out many of the independent shops that once made Williamsburg a shopping destination, replacing them with chain stores and luxury labels.<\/p>\n \n\tPizzurro notes that these challenges extend far beyond a heritage denim<\/a> retailer. Over his more than 50-year career in fashion retail at companies like AG, Lucky Brand, Diesel <\/a>and Dolce & Gabbana, he has watched the industry shift from being product-driven to marketing-driven, with large companies commanding attention through splashy marketing and social media strategies\u2014often at the expense of originality, in favor of increasingly homogenized fashion.<\/p>\n