Hidehiko Yamane, founder of Evisu, first began as an importer of luxurious goods and fabrics from around the world. As he traveled, he quickly realized that there was a lack of high quality denim on the market and subsequently during one of his trips looking for vintage pieces, he came across a 1950s American loom capable of weaving forty meters of a "selvedge" denim a day. Yamane had an idea: why not make exceptional jeans for connoisseurs like himself? So the Evisu adventure began.

In 1988 Yamane - who calls himself a tailor, not a designer of jeans - created a cult product. He originally called his jeans Evis, after the Buddhist god of prosperity, and they were made in Osaka from pure American cotton. He personally painted his famous seagull logo on each article, a long and expensive process that only produced a dozen jeans a day. Meanwhile in the early 90s, the vintage trend took on and his jeans were growing in demand. Evisu continues to be a pioneer in the selvedge revolution and their quality of product is second to no other denim brand.