Denim jeans have become one of the most ubiquitous fashion garments of the last 50 years, making the surprising transition from work wear to designer must-have. Hilarie Stelfox meets a Japanese designer who paints jeans, and reports on the blue jean phenomenon
WOULD you pay nearly £400 for a garment that used to be worn by sailors, gold miners and cowboys. In fact, for a garment that looks like it was once worn by all three - for several years?
In the topsy turvy world of fashion, it would seem that there are plenty of takers for the highly distressed designer jeans that come with a whopping price tag and a ready made worn-out look.
And just when you thought that there could be no new way to design, market or sell jeans, along comes someone who has created a coveted niche.
Huddersfield jeans aficionados had the opportunity last week to meet one of the designers behind the global jeans brand Evisu. Based in Osaka, Japan, the brand has taken the term designer label to new heights.
The company employs London-based artist Kanji Kohanda, who was born in Osaka, to hand-paint its logo and create embroidery detail for the pockets of all its jeans sold in Europe.
Every now and then Kanji goes on a tour of independent stockists in the UK and will paint to order for their customers.
Evisu’s only stockist in Huddersfield is Circle Menswear in Westgate, where staff clearly felt honoured to have Kanji in their midst.
Kanji, a management and law graduate, who clearly found the world of fashion more alluring, sat quietly at a table painting the official ‘kamone’ (seagull in Japanese) onto jeans.
Customers were also invited to have their names, in Japanese characters or symbols, added to the other back pocket.
The customised jeans sell for £165, which, in the world of designer denim, is not just reasonable but an actual bargain.
Shop owner Mohammed Abbas also stocks Dior jeans, which start at £250, and the high-end designer brand Prps, worn by the likes of Brad Pitt and David Beckham.
A pair of Prps will set you back a cool £380 and, quite literally, look as if someone has been doing the gardening, painting and plumbing in them.
“You pay extra for the holes,’’ said Mohammed, with more than a touch of irony. He keeps a close eye on trends and says that in an economic recession jeans will be the one garment that customers will still spend on.
“The thing about jeans is that they are so diverse to wear. They can be casual or worn with a jacket and tie.’’
In fact, jeans may bolster up the fashion business. “The only area of growth we are seeing is on our website, where jeans are the best selling product, which does surprise me,’’ he said.
Evisu is also riding high in the recession and believes that’s because it offers something different – jeans made from traditionally-woven cotton and original indigo dyes, with vintage buttons and the all-important logo.
They don’t come pre-distressed - that’s up to the owners.
“We advise that customers don’t wash their new jeans for six months so that they can build up a patina on them,’’ said Martin White, Evisu Divisional Manager.
