Here’s the real reason Jake Johnson keeps stealing from his film and TV show wardrobes

You might have heard the story about that one time Jake Johnson stole just about all of his pants from New Girl. This is a true story, as Johnson told it to me himself. As he eloquently put it at a screening for the New Girl series finale, he “honestly stole every pair of jeans” and if you ever see him on “like a press line…wearing jeans, those are all Nick’s pants.”

(Also, from the New Girl set, Johnson has added an addendum, and wants you to know that he took “Nick’s college wig. Remember that weird wig when he was a hippie? I also have Nick’s braces from ‘The Virgins’ episode. I have that wig at home, and I have the braces. I wear them sometimes, and those braces are hilarious.”)

And while it might be starting to come across that Johnson needs to be watched more closely around the costuming department on set, there’s very much a reason he keeps snatching his wardrobe after he’s wrapped filming. According to him, he’s not into fashion and he’s never been into fashion. So, when someone else is dressing him, he’s going to take every opportunity to walk away with some nice new threads.

"The beauty of them, as an actor like me, who doesn't care about this kind of stuff, if you have a wardrobe department that gets clothes that fit you and look nice enough to be in a movie or a TV show, they buy doubles of them," He told HelloGiggles over the phone during the press day for Tag. "There's about three versions of every outfit you see an actor in, just in case you spill on them, and one of those versions becomes my real life outfit."

As for what he snagged from the Tag set, Johnson is fine with spilling about the items that are now part of his closet.

“I stole the brown shoes [my character] wears, because the producer made sure my shoes were comfortable. Because, originally, I was wearing boots, and he said, ‘You’re going to be running around a lot. As the producer, I want to put you in some shoes.’ I thought that was a real class move on his part. There’s also a purple hoodie that I took that I wear.”

But it’s not like Johnson gets every single item for his closet from a movie or sitcom set. He also shops at…Orchard Hardware Store. Jake Johnson is one with Nick Miller, but also he might be one with Ron Swanson.

"Well, I'm going to be perfectly honest with you, the pants I'm wearing at press for this trip I bought at Orchard Hardware Store," he continues with a laugh. "The only reason I bought these pants was I was buying some tools where I was doing a project, and I realized I don't have nice-looking pants. I saw a brown pair of pants that looked dressy, so I bought them."

Tag hits theaters June 15th.