RVCA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Various RVCA logos and graphics.

RVCA is a clothing company (or 'label') with a contemporary art focus. While producing a wide variety of clothing, RVCA is probably best known for its t-shirts featuring graphics from contemporary artists. Similar companies include Volcom clothing and Ambiguous Industries. RVCA is based out of the city of Costa Mesa in Orange County, California.

1 History
2 Culture
3 Name
4 Notable contributing artists
5 External links

[edit] History

RVCA was conceived and founded by designer P.M. Tenore. The brand was officially launched with the later involvement of surfer Conan Hayes in 2000. Ed Templeton was the first artist to contribute graphics to the company.

In 2006 RVCA collaborated with Reebok on the Reebopper II (also known as the Basquiat shoe) which was a shoe line (based on the Reebopper mold and was dedicated to the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

[edit] Culture

While not explicitly an extreme sports company, RVCA is closely associated with skateboard and surf culture. RVCA clothing is often found in skateboard/surf specialty shops. RVCA sponsors both a skateboard and surf team. Because of its art focus, RVCA is also associated with the street graffiti subculture. RVCA is involved with various contemporary art galleries such as New Image Art Gallery in Los Angeles and the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco.

[edit] Name

RVCA is in fact Ruca (pronounced "rue-cuh"); the 'V' looking character is a 'U'. The 'U' is written in traditional Roman script, and thus appears as a 'V'. RVCA is sometimes pronounced "err-vick-uh" or "riv-cah", both purposely and ignorantly, due to this convention. Occasionally, RVCA is written in a different script or appears in art where it is clear that the true name is "Ruca". "Ruca" can be translated as "clothing" in Greek, and it is believed the 'V' as 'U' convention arises from this Greco-Roman connection.

A common RVCA logo is to simply feature the 'V' and 'A' from the full Roman-text logo, appearing as an 'up-arrow' and 'down-arrow' side-by-side.