By Scott Kirsner, Globe Columnist

Brian Kalma's commute won't change much as of Monday: instead of heading to Gemvara, the online jewelry merchant headquartered across from South Station, he'll be reporting to Ministry of Supply, a men's apparel startup less than two blocks away in the Leather District.

Kalma, a well-known user experience (UX) guru, joined Gemvara only in October 2011, moving to Boston to help the customization-oriented site streamline the configuration and purchase process. He'd previously worked in New York for Gilt Groupe, the "flash sale" site, and for Zappos.com in Las Vegas. At Zappos, he spent seven years overseeing user experience, up to and just beyond the point the footwear purveyor was acquired by Amazon.

"I made a big move to come to Gemvara, and I'm very fond of what's going on here. The decision wasn't easy," Kalma told me earlier this week. Kalma had served as a mentor to the MIT-educated Ministry of Supply team last year, when the startup participated in the MassChallenge entrepreneurship competition. "I wanted to get back to the roots. I just had the burning desire to roll up my sleeves with something small and unproven. Hacking the apparel industry was appealing to me."

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