Evisu and the story of how Japanese denim conquered the world From the Osaka district to the rap videos, how Evisu re-invented denim

It all started (more or less) with James Dean. The almost obsessive fascination of young Japanese for American aesthetics coincides roughly with the release of Rebel Without a Cause, in 1955, in which Dean wears a pair of jeans. It was in the post-war period that the Ametora developed, - "American Casual" - a new subculture that arises from the Japanese attraction for American denim, for its iconicity and for its narrative power. Ametora had all the connotations of a subculture, even in its subversiveness:

«I think the only clothing that can cause controversy (is) jeans. They became the symbol of outlaws. Students wore jeans to college, and the professors would not allow it because they were too ‘sexy'», recounts Masayoshi Kobayashi in the documentary Weaving Shibusa.

Kobayashi is the founder of The Flat Head, a denim brand in Nagano prefecture, in 1996, born around the same time that Osaka 5 was formed in Osaka, of which Weaving Shibusa tells the story. 

From the mid-1900s onwards, the Western market and press began to lose track of Evisu, the fault of changes in Western fashion trends, a massive shift towards China and a change of ownership. Until Travis Scott was spotted in Evisu last November and the announcement of the collaboration with Palace the only way to receive some news about Evisu and its latest collections was the South China Morning Post. The growing interest, however, around archival fashion, the return of denim and the advent of the new luxury are, however, all conditions that play in favor of the brand, which leveraging its Japanese craftsmanship can return to being an important player in the complex system of modern fashion system.