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.
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After a lot of research, Evisu pays homage to Lee with the Evisu Lazy S Slim Jeans. The HD Lee Mercantile Co was founded in Salina, Kanasas, USA in 1889.
The denim is Evisu No. 13 LEFT which is the true Left Hand Twill new vintage Selvedge denim woven on shuttle looms in Osaka Japan by Kaiahara. Left Hand Twill denim is named like this for the opposite weave (top left to bottom right) direction of the diagonal lines on the denim instead of the normal right hand style. This denim will also wear down even softer than its right hand equivalent. No. 13 LEFT is green caste indigo, and has mismatched selvedge; one side is plain white and the other side has a single warp thread of indigo woven into it, following the Lee version. Jeans cut from No. 13 LEFT denim have the leather patch sewn on the left side of the waistband.
Right hand twill is the early Levi’s design, but our other favorite Liss liked to use left hand twill for its soft feel and comfortable wearing. Vintage Lee jeans were cut from slightly wider denim than Levi’s, so the leg often shows only one selvedge line, and one side of the overlocking.
The fit is the 0005 Slim fit and the silhouette is inspired from 1960’s Wrangler cowboy jeans. It is similar to 0001, but with a slimmer leg and thigh. Unlike 0001, the 0005 is cut straight over the hips and waist with a higher rise, originally allowing great freedom in the saddle. The snug fit across the seat and hips makes this cut particularly flattering.
Also look out for the celebrated LAZY S pocket writing, which looks a bit like horns of a bull, not a Levi’s eagle or a friendly Evisu seagull. Other Lee inspired details you will find are the Evisu Heritage label on the inside waistband that pays homage to the 1930’s Lee “House” label, showing the factory roof symbolising the fact that Lee overalls were union made. The Evisu Heritage woven label directly references this.
No. 13 LEFT is 14 oz regular and the sanforized denim will shrink about 3-5% after washing. The Evisu Lazy S Slim Jeans will be available for purchase from January 2009.
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After the auspicious first month with Chicken, the Dirty Dozen + 1 project jeans have been passed to Almondcrush in a New York City ceremony. The jeans saw some fierce action and experienced pole dancing, excessive drinking, thrills and spills, and some special tender moments.
Check out all the Dirty Dozen + 1 coverage on the Evisu blog.
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It’s been 8 months and we’ve been wearing Evisu’s wrangler-inspired jeans pretty much every day since, without a single wash. The Japanese selvedge Green Caste denim with broken twill weave has worn in beautifully, creating a rich patina with weathered fading.
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For the Dirty Dozen + 1 project, Chicken started off by hot soaking his Evisu jeans before the first wear.
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The jeans are being painted by “Mr Kobayashi Evisu No1 Paint Writer!” in the Evisu store in Osaka, Japan. Mr Kobayashi teaches the other shop staff to paint and is considered Yamane’s most trusted painter and Evisu maniac. The jeans that are being painted are Deluxe prototypes for SS08 and were painted as a special souvenir. The purple colour paint is “Osaka Purple” which they only paint in Osaka shops (Tokyo has navy blue, and other stores have unique colors), and the characters on the right pocket say Osaka. The video is better than watching paint dry!
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Published by admin on August 18, 2007
in News.
Gordon from Blue in Green made a video of the hand painting of the DD+1 Jeans. The Evisu seagull pocket logo is on the painted on the right, and on the left there is the DD+1 patch and “13″ painted in Japanese.
Thanks Gordon!
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The Dirty Dozen + 1 jeans is a project conceived by Cheep and the members of the online denim community Supertalk in conjunction with New York’s best denim store Blue in Green. Thirteen people over thirteen months will wear a special single pair of customized Evisu jeans hand painted by the Japanese artist Pesu at Blue In Green New York. The jeans start with Chicken who also designed the patch, and will then slowly travel around the world before ending back in NYC after thirteen months.
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&uotThese Evisu Lot 2001 No. 2 jeans are from our friend Deus in Sweden. Worn from a raw state, the indigo has faded and threads have broken to capture the imprint of their wearer. The charm of raw denim lies in its potential: the fabric fading and twisting to a unique and unpredictable state. As time goes on, a pair of raw jeans will continue to transform and fade, telling an original story molded by the essence of its wearer. What follows is Deus’s account of what he and his jeans have been through.
I got the jeans back in 2005 in the middle of June. They were sent to me from a good friend in Asia, and I started wearing them every day. I did not soak or wash them for about nine months. After a while the jeans got really dirty and smelly as I wore them both at work and at home. So I gave them a cold soak inside out, with a small amount of soap. I did not want to ruin the nice dirty looking color that I really love.
I continued to wear them for about six months after the first soak before I gave them the next one. Over this period, the jeans were a bit repaired, as they started to get small holes from hard wear in certain areas. I patched them up and soaked them, this time in hot water with the jeans on me but only with normal soap, no washing powder. I tried to shrink them back a bit in size, as they had stretched a lot from the hard wearing at work, and they did shrink a bit.
In the winter of 2007 I wore the jeans on a three-month travel to Thailand, where they got really hard wear from the sand, dirt and traveling lifestyle. While I was there, the jeans started to get two really brittle areas on the lap, close to crotch area. They got repaired in the crotch at my friend’s denim store, and i patched up the lap when i got back home to Stockholm.
I gave them the last soak in April 2007 in hot water with a small amount of soap.
I had so many new jeans that i wanted to start wearing, so these lovely jeans got a bit of a retirement. They deserved it.
I now only use them at special occasions, or at home. Though that is only because I want to start wearing-in my new jeans. They could, however, live for a couple more years of wearing.
They have been a good friend and treated like a family member, and I would never sell or part with them.
- Deus
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In our Fall 07 collection, Evisu found enlightening inspiration in the ancient Daruma dolls of Takasaki’s Shorinzan Daruma Temple.
Daruma’s are round, hollow Japanese wish dolls in the shape of an egg. They are a symbolic representation of Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk and founder of the art of Zen. According to legend, Bodhidharma lost his limbs while attaining this pure Zen state, therefore the doll is lacking limbs as well.
The dolls are most commonly red but can also be found in yellow, green and white. Their painted faces feature a mustache and beard, skillfully brushed to resemble Bodhidharma. Using black ink or paint, one fills in a single, circular eye while thinking of a wish, and, should the wish become realized, the second eye can be happily filled in.
Because of their low center of gravity, the Daruma doll returns to its upright position after being tilted on its side. As such, the doll has become a symbol for optimism, persistence and strong determination. The dolls can be found throughout our Heritage line ranging from direct appearances on sweatshirts to stylized versions on our children’s clothing.
Look out for the Darumas in across the Men’s and Women’s Heritage lines.
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