Our Autumn/Winter 08 collection is online now at Evisu.com.
This season’s Heritage looks to it’s proud ancestry of the Samurai Warriors. The Samurai were “samurau” or servants to their lord the Emporor and ferociously defended Japan from its enemies both foreign and home-grown. The Samurai reign lasted from their foundation in the Taika Period (646) under the Emperor Tenji until the last days of the Samurai in the Show Period (1949).
An important icon of the Samurai was the Sashimono, a banner mounted on the back of the warrior’s armour to display his allegiance. The Sashimono appears as an Evisu flag or Red Tab on the backs of fearsome Samurai warriors and also as a banner showing Evisu’s conquest of Osaka; our home town. Also appearing in this season’s collection is the Kabuto or Samurai helmet. This is very important as protection, but it must also be extremely terrifying to scare off all those who dare to oppose the Mighty Samurai.
While We were finding out about the Samurai, we noticed that actually their armor and way of life are not so different from the uniform and spirit of one of our favorite sports - American Football! Japanese collectors love to find vintage football jerseys and banners, so we mixed the two together to make the Evisu Osaka Samurai’s American Football team. We were thinking also about our founder, Mr Yamane’s, favorite baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers, who used to be the home town toeam of our our town, Osaka. So we go the idea of Marvelous True Vintage letterman appliques to put on our jeans, sweaters and T-shirts, as well as some very old-style graphics and techniques.
The collection can be purchased from the North American and International Online Stores.
Tags:
aw08,
collection,
heritage,
Japan,
jean,
Jeans,
Online Store,
osaka,
vintage
Related Posts:
Published by admin on January 16, 2008
in News.
For those Dutch speakers out there, have a look at Evisu on the Dutch TV program RTL Boulevard.
Tags:
dutch,
Japan,
tv
Related Posts:
We love eating ramen noodles almost as much as we love our selvedge denim. Japan is home to the type of obsessive people like our founder Hidehiko Yamane that love the details and want to fill their life with as much of the minutia as possible. Along with denim, Yamane also adores golf, drinking and women, and so when we found a project that catalog’s Japanese girls eating noodles we knew it would be the type of thing Yamane loves to obsess over.
The images are courtesy of the very interesting project Japanese Noodle. If this is your type of thing, you can buy a DVD of pretty girls doing nothing but eating noodles. We think this is almost as good as vintage selvedge!
Tags:
girls,
Japan,
noodles
Related Posts:
Published by admin on January 1, 2008
in News.
The Japanese New Year is a very different experience when compared to the rest of the world. Instead of drunken debauchery, fireworks, champagne, and revelry, the Japanese spend this time quietly with their family eating special new years food with soba buckwheat noodles and a sticky rice cake called mochi. There is also special new years shows on TV which has traditionally focused around the Red and White song festival that battles the year’s most popular singers against each other, but more recently televised fighting has become popular with a mix of boxing, martial arts, kick-boxing, and wrestling featuring professional fighters (sometimes matched against sumo wrestlers!!), as well as public figures in the spotlight.
At Evisu, we like to spend time with our family in front of the TV flicking between the surreal acts of violence and cheesy Japanese pop stars while eating soba noodles and drinking beer and sake. At midnight we sometimes head down to the local temple which is packed with people praying and bringing in the new year. At this time of the years temples have lots of food and carnival like booths near the entrance which add a fun and festive atmosphere.
We also like to send New Years cards. 2008 is the year of the mouse or rat, and so all the cards this year feature a little rodent. The cards usually have a message like Shinnen Akemashite Omedetou-gozaimasu, which literally means “Happiness to you on the dawn of a new year“. Here are few of the cards we really loved this year from the SADA 104 Japanese greeting postcard exhibition
From everyone at Evisu we wish you a Happy New Year! Akemashite Omedetou!
Tags:
Japan,
new year
Related Posts:
Japan is the home of Evisu, and we would love to share a few pics that remind us of the vivid energy that Tokyo and Osaka possess. We love escaping the crowds and stumbling down alleys and finding tiny little okonomiyaki places and getting to know the chef who pours himself a drink every time he pours you one. We remember many times stumbling out past all the kids waiting for the first train and jump in a taxi on the way home. These photos are taken by our friend Thomas Lottermoser and give a feel for the vibrancy and grittiness of Japan. We can’t stop looking at them.
Tags:
art,
Japan,
osaka,
photography,
tokyo
Related Posts:
Being a Japanese fashion brand, sushi is one of our favorite things. If you ever wondered what it was like being a bit of sushi at your favorite kaiten (conveyer belt) sushi place, have a look at this video which was filmed around midnight in Tokyo. Sugoi desune!
Tags:
Japan,
sushi
Related Posts:
One of the most exciting aspects of working with the best Japanese mills in the world is being able to witness innovative denim research. On a recent visit to the Kuroki mill in Japan they showed us an intricate fabric development that used gold mix weft yarn, instead of the usual undied cotton, along with the same indigo-dyed thread that is used in their selvedge denim. Though the pattern possibilities are endless, Kuroki used a skull design to test. The fabric has been designed to wash down beautifully with samples in indigo and black. Each shows great potential for a unique patina.
The fabric is still in developmental stages, but simply bearing witness to the ancient Japanese founders’ continued drive to incorporate traditional selvedge denim with the latest techniques in innovative designs is proof that Japan remains the leader in quality denim.
Front:
Front Detail:
Back:
Back Detail:
Tags:
fabric,
Japan,
kuroki
Related Posts:
This photograph is part of a collection from a recent Evisu photo shoot in Kyoto, Japan. It was taken at the Toji temple, one of the two guardian temples protecting both sides of Rajo-mon (Rajo gate). The massive structure was constructed in 794 when Emperor Danmu renamed the capital of Japan to Kyoto. It is well known that during the construction the Prist Kukai (Koho-taishi) used this place as a school at which to teach Singon-shu tartaric Buddhism. Therefore, the religious name of this temple bacame “Kyo-oh Kokoku-ji”. The models are sipping green tea, a popular past-time in Japan.
Tags:
Japan,
temple,
toji
Related Posts:
Published by admin on April 21, 2007
in News.
Evisu was formally born in Osaka Japan in 1991, although the research and planning necessary to reproduce the perfect pair of vintage jeans had been going on for several years prior to this.
The founder of Evisu is Hidehiko Yamane. Yamane-san was trained as a tailor but his love for vintage jeans and his disappointment with the mass-produced modern versions led him firstly to the vintage clothing import business and then, revolutionary, to start putting together the elements required to reproduce vintage-style jeans.
The initial production line allowed about 14 pairs of jeans a day to be produced and each of them was lovingly hand-painted with the now famous seagull logo by Yamane-san himself. Evisu (also written Evis or Ebisu) is the name of the Japanese folk god of money who is usually portrayed with a fish and a fishing rod. His name was selected for the new venture as money and fishing are tow of Yamane-san’s five favorite things (the others being beer, women and golf - in no particular order).
Although initially Evisu was more a labour of love than a commercial venture, Evisu jeans captured the imagination of the detail-obsessed Japanese fashion crowd, spurring a revival of interest in vintage denim which has now spread around the world.
Tags:
denim,
Japan,
jean,
Jeans,
osaka,
vintage,
yamane
Related Posts:
