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Named after the now-defunct nineteenth-century textile company Amoskeag Manufacturing, this small, sublevel store is all about denim, offering rustic, raw jeans that pay homage to the fabric’s utilitarian history. The shop was opened in 2008 by Japanese textile company Design Works, which also provides denim to big-name designers like Helmut Lang and Ralph Lauren. The décor reflects the tarnished, old-school feel of the jeans, with creaky, dark-wood floors and original tin ceilings. Vintage mannequins, black-and-white photographs, antique luggage, and old textile tools adorn the window display. Inside, the jeans are displayed on exposed brick walls like paintings at an art gallery. Amoskeag creates four different styles of jeans in various hues, with additional pants available in wool or stiff canvas. Each piece is painstakingly created from scratch, including the 839 Overalls, a one-of-a-kind seamless design made of shuttle-woven true indigo fabric. Though jeans make up the core offerings, the shop also sells shirts and jackets in wool and brushed cotton, as well as tough, coated-canvas newspaper-delivery totes. While the selection caters primarily to men, downtown women embracing the unisex trend regularly peruse the wares as well. — Jacquelyn Lewis