One of TACtile Textile Arts Center's most colorful exhibits is back: World Threads III: Preserving Textile Traditions, featuring -- as in the past -- a beautiful global palette of fiber-arts handiwork to both look at and to buy. Even more beautiful is the humanitarian purpose behind the show -- to sustain traditional arts while supporting women artisans living in poverty and sometimes dire conditions.

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Climax Jerky has joined the mall lineup.

After a winter hibernation, new retail merchandising vendors are wheeling out their wares on the 16th Street Mall. And not only have the offerings grown, but so have the hours: The Downtown Denver Partnership now requires vendors to be on-site between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. The strip between Welton and Stout streets is particularly loaded, with ventures like Brooke Comai's Climax Jerky, Lu-Re's Handcrafted Beaded Jewelry, Jestibo of Colorado and Body Massage Wellness Spa joining the lineup, which includes many repeat performances.

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Deja Blue: cool or... not cool?

The basic Goodwill business model -- which relies on people cramming a bunch of garbage bags full of random shit they don't want anymore and giving it to Goodwill to sort and sell for cheap -- offers two major benefits: 1) You can get the shit for way cheaper than if you bought it new, and 2) There's a lot of great, weird stuff in these stores that you can't even find anywhere else. But those benefits come, of course, at a price: You have to be willing to dig through a heap of crap to get to them.

For some people -- like me -- the thrill of the chase is the best part; for others, not so much. And it's presumably that latter group that Goodwill seeks to cater to with Deja Blue, its brand-new "boutique" that purports to dig out all the good designer stuff and centralize it at one location. But while the prices are still cheap, I'm not sold.

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No, Fancy Tiger Clothing and Buffalo Exchange don't hate each other, although you'd be forgiven if you thought they did. After all, a new ad campaign from the side-by-side boutiques on South Broadway is definitely in your face. The opposite is true, however. In fact the stores have held several joint events and plan to do more. So how did the campaign get started? Let's just say it all started in Brooklyn. To find out more, check our recent story in Off Limits, and then check out the artwork on the jump.

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While Colorado may be home to one of the worst dressed cities in America, we're still ranked as one of the fittest. It's no secret that people here love being active -- and Colorado Clothing has been making workout and sport apparel for our generally healthy population since 1998.

But in 2009, the company saw a gaping hole in a market it had yet to tap: women's active wear (read: yoga clothes) at a reasonable price. In 2010, the company launched Soybu, it's own line of lifestyle apparel, and business only got better from there.

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"A tigalo is what happens when a tiger and a buffalo get funky together," explains Matthew Brown, owner of Fancy Tiger Clothing (and the partner of Jaime Jennings, who runs Fancy Tiger Crafts), which recently settled into new digs on Broadway alongside the craft store and Buffalo Exchange, which has moved from its longtime storefront on East 13th Avenue. The stretch of 51-59 Broadway has now been dubbed "Tigalo."

"People are very excited about what's happening in Denver and especially on South Broadway right now," Brown notes. "There's a lot of support for small businesses growing and moving forward."

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Salvagetti Bicycle Workshop will kickstart a tiny, 250-square -foot version of its bike shop on South Broadway sometime in the next few weeks. It will be located right behind Happy Coffee, which Salvagetti owner Scott Taylor plans to open at 1 South Broadway sometime in February or March inside what is now Fancy Tiger Crafts (that store is also moving).

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Andrew Wise

A stately mannequin displays some of Animo's equestrian wear.

Animo, an Italian company specializing in equestrian wear, has set up a pop-up store at 2426 Third Avenue in Cherry Creek, which opened last night, is open again today and will open tomorrow at 9 a.m.

The label prides itself on being "100 percent made in Italy -- the fabric as well," says Armando Hassey, a successful show rider who is head of North American distribution.

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Jeremy Burns, "Little Friends," Black Book Gallery.

You know you're in trouble when you're still shopping and Christmas is just a little more than a week away. Though the most organized folks have finished their gift-buying and are now focusing on tree-trimming, wrapping and baking, procrastinators can breathe easy: You can still snag hip, edgy, arty gifts.

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If only I was the Criss Angel of retail.

When I'm not interviewing drag queens, reviewing concerts and rating Santas for Westword, I'm working at Shirt Folding Store. For twenty hours a week, I fold shirts (and, more important, jeans) alongside other part-timers, who in their other jobs might be bank tellers, professional eBay auctioneers, art-history majors and spoken-word artists.

I have held my position at Shirt Folding Store off and on since 2006, and to a surprisingly great degree, have very much enjoyed telling customers how cute she (or he, if/when a man is forced into Shirt Folding Store by his wife/mother/girlfriend to try on clothes) looks in the jeans I have so painstakingly helped them pick out. For a non-commissioned salesperson, I go to great lengths to make sure my customers leave Shirt Folding Store in love (or at least in like) with a perfect pair of jeans. I love my job.

This is why I get so pissed off when I encounter an asshole.

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