Everything Starts From a Blank Canvas

Premier quality canvas is the foundation of the SEUVAS brand.

Canvas production in Okayama Prefecture dates back well over a century. Historically used for ship sails and painting canvases, canvas fabrics are well regarded for their toughness and excellent breathability even in harsh environments. The canvas produced in Kurashiki, the site of our sewing facility, comes directly from the nearby Takeyari Canvas Factory, a long-established factory founded over 130 years ago in 1888. Takeyari Canvas Factory is currently one of the most prolific canvas producers in all of Japan.

Canvas fabrics, due to their well known strength and durability, were primarily used as an industrial textile, and therefore it had formerly not been considered for garment production. This is where we at SEUVAS are presenting an entirely new innovation in textile utilization.

Canvas as clothing presents a radical new direction in the way we interact with this well-known textile. It is the intersection between form, function, and fashion; and a means to breathe beauty into a very practical and sturdy textile in an entirely new way.

 

Innovations in Sewing

 

We are artisans at our craft and artists in how we design.

At SEUVAS we strive to utilize the full potential of canvas fabrics, while tirelessly pursuing comfort and detail when designing our garments. We utilize a unique scouring process to bring out the unique texture of the canvas, while using cotton thread of the same color to maintain consistency in garment aesthetics. These techniques are an entirely in-house process, and we take pride in how our sewing techniques are creating a new identity for this historic textile.

We continue to experiment in our sewing process, but consistently aim to produce a timeless look in every design that we produce. SEUVAS garments incorporate our signature porcelain button made by our friends at +botao. These buttons are made from clay ore (Amakusa pottery stone) in Amakusa City in Kumamoto Prefecture.

These buttons are entirely hand-made and hand-painted, one-by-one, each retaining their own subtly unique quality. These details are what makes our clothing both practical and beautiful. We are unwavering in our attention to detail and our mission to create long lasting, functional works of art which can be worn everyday.

 

Our Values

 

At SEUVAS, we are uncompromising in our commitment to maintaining effective sustainability practices in every aspect of our production process. From start to finish, we are focused on

minimizing waste and utilizing natural production methods, while also preserving the integrity of the garment and its fundamental textile. In our production process, we utilize recycled cotton, recycled wools, and recycled fabrics when creating our garments. We also continue to produce in low quantities as a means of reducing any potential excess in production or unnecessary use of plastics. More and more we are eliminating the need for new materials in our production process.

Our production partners also share these fundamental values. The raw canvas itself is produced with a waterless washing/finishing method, while our dyeing partners use all-natural dyeing techniques made with natural, often locally sourced ingredients. Every aspect of our production is maintained with sustainability as a core focus. Because of our uniquely close relationship to these production partners, every part of the garment manufacturing process can be fully accounted for.

By virtue of the quality of the canvas being used, SEUVAS garments are crafted with the intention of long-time use and reusability. These well-crafted garments are produced in a low volume, and therefore further minimize any potential waste. And because SEUVAS maintains such a uniquely close relationship with Takeyari Canvas, we are able to easily repair garments if necessary, adding to the longevity of these garments and thus minimizing unnecessary waste.

 

Beauty Through Versatility

 

Let your clothes be a canvas!

Keeping in line with our commitment to sustainability, SEUVAS garments, by virtue of the utility of our high quality canvas, can be easily mended and customized by the wearer. These garments evolve with the wearer overtime, and can take on a new life when modified to fit the lifestyle or personality of the wearer.

Each SEUVAS garment is a blank canvas; one meant to be experimented with, changed, adjusted, reshaped, and refashioned into anything the wearer so chooses. We are striving to move towards a type of “free-spirited” clothing where the wearer is free to add their own personal nuance to our clothing. Wearers are fully encouraged to create their own art with this high quality canvas, and breathe their own personality into each garment, making it uniquely their own.

 

Our Goals

 

SEUVAS is presenting a new intersection between tradition and experimentation; timelessness and innovation; beauty and function. We are hoping to use clothing to inspire others to create in this way, where quality practical items are engaged with in new ways; repurposed, reimagined, and made with sustainability practices in mind.

Within Japan, as well as abroad, we are hoping to help preserve these traditional industries while striving to usher in a new generation of craftsmen and artisans. By interacting with crafted items and clothing in this way, we hope to inspire others to adopt our ethos of practicality, quality, versatility, longevity, and sustainability in production.