Evisu or Evisu Genes is a Japanese designer clothing company that specializes in producing

denim Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. While a denim predecessor known as dungaree has been pr ...

wear through traditional, labor-intensive methods. The brand was founded in 1991 in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, by

Hidehiko Yamane Hidehiko Yamane (山根英彦, ''Yamane Hidehiko'') is a Japanese clothes designer, and the man behind the popular clothing brand Evisu jeans. In March, 2006, Yamane was reported to Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office along with another ...

Production

FMIB 52020 Ebisu, the Fish-god of Japan, bearing a Red Tai

The initial production line allowed about 14 pairs of

jeans Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and paten ...

a day to be produced, with each of them having a

seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...

(''kamome'') hand painted on them by Yamane himself. Ebisu is the name of the Japanese folk god of money who is usually portrayed with a fishing rod. In the early 1990s 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 has 65 shops in Japan.

Legal issues

In March 2006, the company and Yamane were reported to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

District Public Prosecutor's Office with another firm on suspicion of

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

. Yamane and the two firms stood accused of concealing more than 500 million yen of income as well as evading some 160 million yen in taxes over three years.

Personnel changes

In 2009, Evisu was relaunched, and Scott Morrison, the co-founder of Paper Denim & Cloth and Earnest Sewn, was added to the Evisu team as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

.Uristocrat.com
September 2009

In popular culture

The brand has been mentioned in several songs, including

Mase Mason Durell Betha (born August 27, 1975), better known by his mononym Mase (formerly Murda Mase and stylized as Ma$e), is an American rapper and minister. In the late 1990s, he recorded on the Bad Boy Records label alongside its founder Sean ...

Harlem Lullaby ''Harlem Lullaby'' is an album by jazz pianist Junior Mance which was recorded in 1966 and released on the Atlantic label.Jigga That Nigga "Jigga That Nigga" is a song by the American rapper Jay-Z. It was the third single from his sixth studio album, '' The Blueprint''. It has additional vocals from Stephanie Miller and Michelle Mills but they are not credited as featuring. In the ...

", in

Young Jeezy Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. Signing to Def Jam Recordings in 2004, his major label debut, '' Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101'', was released the followin ...

's track "Bury Me a G", The Game's "Down for My Niggaz", T.I.'s "ASAP",

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

's "Lock & Load,"

The Carters The Carters (stylized in all caps) are an American musical duo composed of married artists Beyoncé and Jay-Z. They released their first album as the Carters, ''Everything Is Love'', on June 16, 2018. Before formally naming their collaboration, ...

' "

Apeshit "Apeshit" (stylized in all caps) is a song by American musical duo the Carters, composed of Beyoncé and Jay-Z. The song was written by the duo, Pharrell Williams, and Quavo & Offset from the hip hop trio Migos, with the former three producing ...

De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig (The Youth of Today) is a Dutch hip hop and R&B group based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, renowned for their musical approach of irreverent, humorous lyrics and electronic beats. Their humorous style is characterised b ...

's "Shenkie", Club Dogo's "Spacco tutto", and

Gucci Mane Radric Delantic Davis (born February 12, 1980), known professionally as Gucci Mane, is an American rapper and record executive. He helped pioneer the hip hop subgenre of trap music alongside fellow Atlanta-based rappers T.I. and Young Jeezy, ...

's "Freaky Girl".

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official Evisu Site

Official Japanese Site
Jeans by brand Clothing brands of Japan Clothing companies established in 1991 Clothing companies of Japan Japanese brands Companies based in Osaka Prefecture Japanese companies established in 1991