Say goodbye to dirt-cheap Levis, discounted Calvin Klein thongs and racks and racks of vintage coats.

After thirty years, the Canal Jean Co., pioneer of downtown style and refuge for the cash-strapped fashion victim, will close its SoHo store by the end of next month.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” says Latoya Jarvis, 17, as she browsed among the t-shirts on Friday morning.

Jarvis, who shops here once a week and estimates 50 percent of her wardrobe comes from Canal, needn’t be too alarmed, as owner Ira Russack is already trawling Manhattan’s realty offices looking for a new downtown location. He hopes to be open for business again by the end of next summer.

The lease on the current building, which the Canal Jean Co. owns, has been taken up by Bloomingdales – they’re planning a downtown version of their 59th St department store and made Canal an offer it couldn’t refuse.

The 65,000 square foot Broadway store has sparked a host of fashion trends over the years.

Military-style backpacks and messenger bags, remodeled by everyone from Manhattan Portage to the hip Italian label Diesel, were first sold in the late ’80s by Russack, who bought bulk from army surplus stores.

Russack credits himself with starting the craze for cargo pants, cutting them off below the knee and sparking labels like GAP, Polo Jeans and Levi’s to market them heavily in 1998.

The Levi Strauss company even got the idea of black jeans from Canal, Russack claims.

“I took used Levis that were a little bit stained or had paint on them and dyed them black,” says Russack. Soon thereafter, Levis started manufacturing black denim.

“There was no such thing as black Levis!” Russack recalls.

“I don’t think he’s stretching the truth,” said Professor Michele Bryant, who teaches fashion design at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology.

She said he popularized the military look with army suprluss and camoflage gear from stores around the world, and with its recycled clothing and durable workwear dyed in fashionable hues, Canal has been at the forefront of “sustainable design.”

“There was something very egalitarian about Canal Jeans,” she said. “Very often the inspiration for designer clothing came from there. It’s really like a prime resource because you don’t have to pay for the designer’s brand name.”

Russack credits his store with popularizing New York’s downtown “anti-fashion” style.

“Rather than try to impose a certain look or a certain style as most designers and companies, do, I was able to [offer] more of a theater,” he says.

A theater frequented by such fashion icons as Sarah Jessica Parker, Gwen Stefani and Kelly Osbourne, all of whom sport the quirky, mixed-up style, throwing vintage in with designer labels, that has become New York’s signature look.

“Every time there was a new fashion, whether it was grunge or punk or hippie, we were able to bring it to New York and put it out at an affordable price in large quantities,” Russack added.

The quantities aren’t slipping, even now.

“We really have more merchandise than we have weeks to sell it,” he says.

And the discounts will increase each week up until closing, which is set for some time around January 19.

Some are alarmed at the idea of a downtown Bloomingdales replacing Canal.

“Bloomingdales belongs on 59th St,” grumbled George Obergfoll, 36, a Manhattan TV producer. “The neighborhood’s changing for the worst – it’s becoming like a mall.”

“It’s kind of sad,” agreed customer Taryn Ponsky, 23, a Manhattan student, as she sorted through the vintage coats. “Non-chains are a dying breed.”

But Canal will live again somewhere downtown as soon as Russack finds that elusive perfect new spot for the store.

“Canal Jeans is the Village and SoHo,” Russack says. “We belong there.”

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