CONSTRUCTION ZONE
With 3x1, expert denim designer Scott Morrison is proving that it really is all in the details.
Nickel? Bronze? Gunmetal? RED? Gunmetal. I didn’t really know I had strong opinions about rivets until Scott Morrison invited me to pick out my favorite from a zippered pouch filled with dozens. But that’s the sort of thing one spends 20 minutes agonizing over at 3x1, Morrison’s store-slash-factory-slash-brand headquarters on Mercer Street in New York.
First and foremost, 3x1 is a place for any guy to walk in and create perfect-as-possible jeans on his own terms. “The idea was to be the world’s pre-eminent denim source,” says Morrison, settling into a black leather sofa in the back part of the loft, where the business types are toiling. “It wasn’t about heritage or retelling the history of blue jeans—it was about inviting people into the process and getting them involved in a very unique way.”
Morrison has spent the past 12 years immersed in the industry—first, as a co-founder of the brands Paper Denim & Cloth and Earnest Sewn. Now, with 3x1, he’s proving how mere mortals can evolve into what he affectionately refers to as “denimheads” if given ownership over the process. “You get to go through the exact same experience I go through as a designer—building the jean from the ground up, making decisions about all the components,” he says.
Initially, customers try on four different 3x1 fits. Once the fit is chosen, they ponder rolls of fabrics bolted into a wall. (With 250 options, and 12 to 16 new ones arriving each month, 3x1 is home to what Morrison promises is the largest collection in the world.) Then it’s time to select the thread (one color or two?), fly style (zip or button?), button closure and rivets, pocket shape, coin pocket style, pocket linings…and once those components are assembled, the tailors in the factory, located on the other side of a glass wall, do their thing.
The custom process starts at $520, but for the truly obsessed who prefer to start from scratch, 3x1 offers a bespoke option (which will set you back upwards of $1,200), where Morrison’s team will help you dream up your own unique fit, which is then digitized into a pattern and can be used for every pair you order in the future. This works beautifully for unconventionally built dudes (and 3x1 clients) like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Tyson Chandler. “Tyson is 7'1", but he has my waist size,” says Morrison with a laugh. “Obviously, I’m fat and he’s skinny. He has an amazing physique, but he has a very unique build—he can’t wear the same thing that I wear. We’ll let any customer challenge us to do anything.”
So when clients started demanding more from Morrison than just custom jeans, he was compelled to deliver. He created a ready-to-wear denim collection, now sold at stores such as Barneys New York, and dared his workroom to indulge special requests like jackets, vests, and even a denim tuxedo. This month, 3x1 is introducing a new lean, mean chambray shirting collection. “Customers were using our bespoke process to make shirts, which we started doing reluctantly, because it was so expensive for them,” says Morrison. “And ultimately, I didn’t feel comfortable charging bespoke for something we should probably make.”
He doesn’t feel great about the fact that the 3x1 custom experience has been limited to guys who can make it to Mercer Street, either. “It makes sense to expand into another store,” he concedes. “The real question is where. Los Angeles? Japan? The Upper East Side? It’s crazy—we have guys from all over, of all shapes and sizes, coming in here. Like I’ve always said: Denim and white T-shirts are the two things in the world that don’t discriminate. Everyone has them, and everyone can appreciate them.”