We always enjoy discovering new and exciting brands here at Denim Geek and MQT is no different. A premium menswear brand offering rustic denims and indigo classics, the brand was started two years ago by a few ex-Levi’s designers.

MQT’s mission is to provide superior jeans to the masses at a decent price and now they’re sold in numerous boutiques across England. All of the cotton is sourced from European mills in places like Italy and Spain and the finishing of each piece is centered on little details such as battered rivets, reversed belt loops and deep-v pockets. MQT jeans are available in six fits (carrot, slim, regular, relaxed, loose, twisted), nine designs and ten finishes.

OK, so it’s not a huge brand yet. But mixing and matching among designs, fits and finishes provides plenty of selection for men who want their denim a little different. The small size of the brand pays dividends: new designs are quick-to-market and detail can really be focused on. MQT live to make men look good in denim. And ideally, they don’t want that to be six months from now.

You’d struggle to find the same combination of style and detail at the price. A pair of Levi’s in London would set you back around £125 and MQT can be had from about £90 to about £110. Who knows what you’ll find it for online.

Check out www.mqtdenim.com for more information.

You’ve probably seen their jeans around already but haven’t even realised.  Humor Clothing is an up and coming underground label hailing from Denmark and these selected shots are a few we’ve picked out of their Spring/Summer 2010 Lookbook.

Humor holds a philosophy to create a style which through materials, designs, details and colours creates an overall look that, on the one hand, is new and long overdue, but on the other hand also commercial and wearable.  It’s good to see a fresh, young brand doing so well and we wish them luck the future.

For more information on the brand, head on over to www.humoer.dk.  As for stockists in the UK, check out OKI-NI.

We just got word that Levi’s and Original Fake are continuing their collaboration this year. Denim Geek reported last year that the legendary denim label were teaming up with KAWS and Co for a few select samples and this 2010 will see a joint project re-working the 501 1944 jean from the Levi’s Vintage Collection.

Like last year, the jeans feature KAWS’s Chomper teeth on the back pocket as well as details which are pulled straight from the 1940s. If you like the look of them, these jeans should be available soon from Original Fake and www.levi.com.

Premium men’s jeans brands Trousers London are hosting a pop-up shop and exhibition under the theme of ‘Denim Garden’ in Seven Dials, London this month. The exciting pop-up will feature both an exhibition and denim store with the entire Trousers London collection on sale. All of their jeans are made from raw organic denim and to ensure their exclusivity, every pair of jeans is given a unique ID number, ensuring each model is limited edition.

‘Denim Garden’ will also house an installation of collaborative projects showing the work of local artists including video projects, photography and art. Artists include Mario Mendez, whose recent work was seen in Italian Vogue and Sebastien Pons, who has worked previously with Vivienne Westwood.

‘Denim Garden’ will be located at 35 Neal Street from 13 – 28th February and the store will open at 12 noon on Saturday 13th February.

www.trouserslondon.co.uk

Opening Ceremony was founded in 2002 by UC Berkeley grads Carol Lim and Humberto Leon and bills itself as “a multifaceted retail environment comprised of shops, showroom and a private label collection.” Levi’s is Levi’s – founded in 1873 and iconic. Denim Geek finally managed to find more info on the eagerly anticipated collaboration over at www.sfgate.com.

Leon and Joshua Katz, senior manager of collaborations at Levi’s, say they’d long been following each other’s work. “We’d talked about doing something together, but it was a matter of finding the right project,” Katz said.

Talk turned into action, and the result is an affordable co-branded collection including updated Levi’s 505 corduroy jeans with a slim-leg 1980s fit, trucker jackets for men and women, a unisex button-down shirt and cutoff shorts, all in undenim colors like teal, fuchsia and curry.

The Levi’s x Opening Ceremony collection premiered Tuesday during New York Fashion Week and will be available from this Monday in hot spots such as Colette in Paris, Lane Crawford in Hong Kong and V2K in Istanbul as well as online at www.levi.com.

Q: You’ve collaborated with Wong Kar-Wai, Chloë Sevigny, Spike Jonze, United Arrows and Pendleton, to name just a few people and companies. Why did you want to work with Levi’s?

A: They’ve been always on my radar as a company we wanted to work with. We look at every project in terms of who is expert at what they do. If you look at American denim, and quality denim, there’s Levi’s. They make the classic trucker jacket that James Dean wore. They’ve been around for enough time to be really grounded in a lot of categories. When you think American heritage, Levi’s is the first brand that comes to mind. We wanted to stick with the heritage of Levi’s, their signature items with a hint of Opening Ceremony.

Q: What inspired the collection?

A: It started with the corduroy.

Q: Why not denim if you’re working with Levi’s?

A: My inspiration came from going to upstate New York in summertime with friends. They had incredible short cutoffs they made from corduroy pants. They had a great feeling to them. We’d go swimming in creeks, and their cutoffs took me back to my days of going to Berkeley, where I was always finding corduroys in thrift shops. I’d taper them to make them the right fit. It was a great group of people I was around – Mod kids, riot grrrls – in the ’90s; I was thinking about that when I was doing the collection. It reminds me of how we’d drive down to Stinson Beach, and on our way we’d find these great little beaches and have a bonfire.

Q: Teal, fuchsia and curry aren’t the colors of Stinson Beach or upstate New York, yet they figure strongly in the collection. How did you select your palette?

A: It was based on the great festivals in India where they throw pigment and it stains white garments. The colors evoke the feeling, and it was crossed with the rich vegetables we’d buy at the farmers’ markets – squashes and beets – a beautiful, almost curry color and almost fuchsia.

Q: You have stores in New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. Why not here?

A: Opening a store in San Francisco is not too far off our radar. We have lots of San Francisco roots we feel really strongly about. We have a kind of daring approach, so I would think there is room for us there.

More Info: www.levi.com & www.openingceremony.us

Evisu have had a hard time the last few years. People seemed to tire of the products and collections somewhat and the brand has had to sit back and have a bit of a re-think. We saw this sneak peek at the Fall/Winter 2010 Collection on AJANAKU and thought we had to give you guys a look-in. Evisu seemed to have revised both their denim and their garments and are concentrating on products and detailing for their second genes collection of 2010.

This new mixture of American and European design should bode well for the company who seem to have found a new direction under the watchful eyes of new CEO, Scott Morrison. We’re looking forward to seeing the whole collection and hope that it restores worldwide denimhead faith in this legendary streetwear brand. Check out more on Evisu at www.evisu.com.