| Type | Limited |
|---|---|
| Industry | Apparel |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Headquarters | Osaka, Japan |
| Key people | Hidehiko Yamane, founder |
| Products | Apparel Footwear Accessories |
Evisu or Evisu Genes is a Japanese designer clothing company that specializes in producing premium denim wear through traditional, labor-intensive methods.
The brand was formally founded in 1991 in Osaka, Japan, by Hidehiko Yamane, although the research and planning necessary to reproduce the perfect pair of vintage jeans had been going on for several years prior to this. Yamane was trained as a tailor, but his love for vintage jeans and his disappointment with the mass-produced modern versions led him first to the vintage clothing export business, and then to putting together the elements required to reproduce vintage-style jeans. This required the gathering of various bits of machinery, none of which had been produced for the last 40 years.
The initial production line allowed about 14 pairs of jeans a day to be produced, with each of them having a seagull (kamome) hand painted on them by Yamane himself. Evisu (also Evis or Ebisu) is the name of the Japanese folk god of money who is usually portrayed with a fishing rod. His name was selected for the new venture as money and fishing are two of Yamane'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 across the world. In the early 90's Yamane introduced a tailoring line, followed by fishing and golf lines. In 1999, he introduced a ladies fashion line called Evisu Donna to complete the development of Evisu as a full-fashion range going far beyond a jeans brand. Evisu now has 65 shops in Japan.
In March, 2006, the company and Yamane was reported to Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office along with another firm on suspicion of tax evasion. Yamane and the two firms stand accused of concealing more than 500 million yen of income as well as evading some 160 million yen in taxes over three years[1][2]
In 2009, Evisu went through a relaunch and Scott Morrison, the co-founder of both Paper Denim & Cloth and Earnest Sewn, was added to the Evisu team as CEO and creative Director.[3]
Mentioned in Jay-Z's 2002 track "Show You How":,
"How you want it, my jeans are 300,
These ain't Diesel, these is Evisu"
"Pour out a little liquor, bury me in some Evisu jeans,
A USDA top and a throw-away glock,
Bury me a G, nothin more nothin less,
When I get where I'm goin, I just gotta be fresh"
- "Bleedin in them Evisu jeans"
- Lock & Load (Feat. Kurupt) - "little red handkerchief hangin out the right side, back pocket jeans fallin cover my Evisu sign"
- Pump That Base:
"What You Know About Jeans From Japan
Hand Made With The Brand On The Seam Of The Pants
And The Steam In The Seam Of The Pants Also
And The Steam Letter Beam On
So Dont Go Nowhere Got Plenty More Here And There"
B-ZAR [4] - "Freestyle"
"E visu' tau tinere, e unica ta ta promovare; Evisu meu, tinere, sunt o pereche de blugi care-mi plac, da' tare"
Translation Romanian - English: "It's your dream (It's your dream = E visu, which is pronounced like Evisu), young man, it's your only promo, My Evisu (Evisu is pronounced like "e visu'" which means - "a dream"), young man, it's a pair of jeans, which I like the most"