*** Visvim thread: Dissertation on a Japanese Holy Spirit ***

[grs]

Reading back in the thread a bit and noticed a bit of discussion about how Visvim's patterns have changed dramatically from 'back in the day', I thought I was under the influence of some kind of Visvim ambrosia for thinking that their items had actually 'gotten better' as time has gone on, whereas for many brands it seems to be the inverse. Is this still a stance y'all align with?
Also, I'm so grateful to live in a city that's getting the new ICT items, it will be fun to check it out in person!

I think a lot of people appreciate that Vis has adapted to dropped shoulder silhouettes that fit more body types than just their old super slim/skinny cut. I miss the crazy small batch difficult to produce items they would release in the 2010s, but I like a lot of the newer styling/aesthetics more. It's easy to miss those old gems, but I would rather have better fitting items I can wear daily, than some 1/1 sweater I'm terrified to wear. Only thing I think is worse about modern Visvim is how text heavy some of it is.

 

[RaiseThePrice]

I think a lot of people appreciate that Vis has adapted to dropped shoulder silhouettes that fit more body types than just their old super slim/skinny cut. I miss the crazy small batch difficult to produce items they would release in the 2010s, but I like a lot of the newer styling/aesthetics more. It's easy to miss those old gems, but I would rather have better fitting items I can wear daily, than some 1/1 sweater I'm terrified to wear. Only thing I think is worse about modern Visvim is how text heavy some of it is.

Same for me. I enjoy the newer silhouettes much more than the old skinny/slim silhouettes. The availability of big sizes also changed over the past years. being a size 4/5 wasnt that easy some years ago. changed alot for me.

last purchases:

Took advantage of the my theresa sale.

 

[norigim]

I think they still have the small batch items, they're just done via trunk show lottery or VIP only direct sale. For example, they did a 3L six-five release that was limited to something like 20 pieces 3-4 years ago and only through VIPs.

 

[discobobulated]

I much prefer the cuts that started from 2018/19 onwards. I've been buying Vis since the mid 2000's ands first saw it in The Hideout store London. I still have a handful of items I bought in the early years but I really got into it when the cuts became more forgiving and it wasn't a gamble as to whether it would fit or not. No one else even comes close to what Vis does and it is still way under the radar for a lot of people to know about or even get what Vis does. I don't like everything they do each season but there is always something interesting and usually can only be appreciated in hand. All I ask for is a frigging coat loop on my coats!

 

[Fycus]

Reading back in the thread a bit and noticed a bit of discussion about how Visvim's patterns have changed dramatically from 'back in the day', I thought I was under the influence of some kind of Visvim ambrosia for thinking that their items had actually 'gotten better' as time has gone on, whereas for many brands it seems to be the inverse. Is this still a stance y'all align with?
Also, I'm so grateful to live in a city that's getting the new ICT items, it will be fun to check it out in person!

For my first 9 years following the brand (2011-2020) - visvim nailed their stuff in terms of trim, fabric, and aesthetic but the arms were so high and tight it was impossible to wear comfortably unless you have tiny shoulders and arms. This required almost all western buyers to size up, resulting in excessively long arms. Worst offenders were the noragi, but also the 101 jkt. The barnstorm varsity is another example that looks ridiculous by modern standards, it was so stupidly cut. This also made pre-orders even more of a gamble, because you'd be stuck with sleeves that go past your fingers, or an item that wont fit in the arms/pits.

I think with the rise of the baggy trend they were able to pivot, and redo their patterns that cater to a broader audience, but not necessarily alienate existing buyers (the patterns still work on skinnier frames). Now I can often fit a 3 or 4 without much guesswork, and don't feel like I'm taking a massive gamble with pre-orders. I did overhear a lot of visvim's older clientele isnt happy about the oversized garments (since it comes off as more street/casual), but in general it seems that people are more receptive to the change. Not to mention customers can likely size down to achieve a closer-to-body fit if they so desire.

As far as the brand getting better, that is up for interpretation. They are one of the few brands constantly pushing the needle every season, and there are a lot of misses, but as disco highlighted there are also a lot of hits. The prices are still eye-wateringly high, even despite the weak yen, and I find that there are more limited releases now than ever before, but they don't get the same publicity as before. Its not uncommon to see a limited item release with little to no fanfare, such as that ICT sashiko wallis shirt. Before you could reach out to a proxy with a shot at getting, but usually you're SOL if you slept on the release. That leads me to believe they are as popular as ever, or their production runs are so limited that there is little stock to go around.

I would appreciate if they release more of their historical staple items at a reasonable price point with basic washes (kilgore, minie hunting jkt, 101), but it seems doing that would be antithetical to what the brand is. And I think that is what tends to resonate with people who follow the brand, its very much a take it or leave it attitude, and they continue to operate at their own altitude.

 

[norigim]

You touched on a lot of great points. To a certain extent I think the brand has evolved as the people involved in the company have gotten older. Hiroki's definitely put on weight as he's gotten older and if you ever visit one of the trunk show in Japan, the core loyal fans from a while back are all in their mid to late 30's. I've seen this same progression for a while where at some point, my regular size started bordering on too small before they made the jump to more generous sizing. I have a bunch of old inventory that I can't fit into anymore.

As for inventory being more limited, from what I know they slashed the budget for buys in-store and have dedicated more of their resources and energy to trunk shows. It's quite easy to get a trunk show invite these days if you just ask.

 

[wearingjeans]

I'm not sure if it's been explained before, but I have been trying to understand the brand before making any purchases.. what is the difference between F.I.L, Peerless, and ICT? ICT seems a bit obvious enough to me where it is all hand processed or highly limited, in a similar vein to Kapital Kountry stuff. But otherwise, I really have no clue..

 

[norigim]

I'm not sure if it's been explained before, but I have been trying to understand the brand before making any purchases.. what is the difference between F.I.L, Peerless, and ICT? ICT seems a bit obvious enough to me where it is all hand processed or highly limited, in a similar vein to Kapital Kountry stuff. But otherwise, I really have no clue..

F.I.L. is their retail business. Most of the stores in Japan are F.I.L. stores with the exception of the Peerless, Visvim Flagship, and General Market. Even so, those three stores are operated under F.I.L. Occasionally you will see F.I.L. exclusive items. This just means that these items are exclusive to retail locations under Visvim's control and does not get sold through wholesale to third party retailers.

ICT is Indigo Camping Trailer. Just a subline that does more limited releases. Often this is the line they do fabric and dye treatments as experiments in small batches that may be found in the mainline in later seasons. They actually used to have a camping trailer that they would ferry around to locations as popups. Has weekly releases for the most part.

Peerless is both a subline and a store. Store is based in Shibuya Parco. I forget what the concept of this line is tbh. I know they've done a lot of down rider vests and stuff.

There's actually another subline called "Contrary Department" that does more military style gear and is supposed to be generally exclusive to the US but the do an yearly event in Japan where the CD gear is available to the Japanese market.

 

[LantonMills]

F.I.L. is their retail business. Most of the stores in Japan are F.I.L. stores with the exception of the Peerless, Visvim Flagship, and General Market. Even so, those three stores are operated under F.I.L. Occasionally you will see F.I.L. exclusive items. This just means that these items are exclusive to retail locations under Visvim's control and does not get sold through wholesale to third party retailers.

ICT is Indigo Camping Trailer. Just a subline that does more limited releases. Often this is the line they do fabric and dye treatments as experiments in small batches that may be found in the mainline in later seasons. They actually used to have a camping trailer that they would ferry around to locations as popups. Has weekly releases for the most part.

Peerless is both a subline and a store. Store is based in Shibuya Parco. I forget what the concept of this line is tbh. I know they've done a lot of down rider vests and stuff.

There's actually another subline called "Contrary Department" that does more military style gear and is supposed to be generally exclusive to the US but the do an yearly event in Japan where the CD gear is available to the Japanese market.

Excellent breakdown. Thanks. Just wanted to add Motors line

 

[RaiseThePrice]

Excellent breakdown. Thanks. Just wanted to add Motors line

Shall we also add the „visvim sport“ line? 😅

 

[norigim]

Did Motors and VS have different tags? I thought they were just capsules under the mainline but I didn’t pick anything up from either so don’t know for sure. ICT, CD, Peerless,have their own brand tags.

 

[wearingjeans]

F.I.L. is their retail business. Most of the stores in Japan are F.I.L. stores with the exception of the Peerless, Visvim Flagship, and General Market. Even so, those three stores are operated under F.I.L. Occasionally you will see F.I.L. exclusive items. This just means that these items are exclusive to retail locations under Visvim's control and does not get sold through wholesale to third party retailers.

ICT is Indigo Camping Trailer. Just a subline that does more limited releases. Often this is the line they do fabric and dye treatments as experiments in small batches that may be found in the mainline in later seasons. They actually used to have a camping trailer that they would ferry around to locations as popups. Has weekly releases for the most part.

Peerless is both a subline and a store. Store is based in Shibuya Parco. I forget what the concept of this line is tbh. I know they've done a lot of down rider vests and stuff.

There's actually another subline called "Contrary Department" that does more military style gear and is supposed to be generally exclusive to the US but the do an yearly event in Japan where the CD gear is available to the Japanese market.

Ahh, perfect, thank you!

 

[discobobulated]

visvim-brown-poundmakerfolk-boot

Bargain Poundmaker for larger footed Vis fan. Plus extra 15% off

 

[LantonMills]

visvim-brown-poundmakerfolk-boot

Bargain Poundmaker for larger footed Vis fan. Plus extra 15% off

Holy smokes this was a good deal, Thanks!

 

[discobobulated]

You're welcome! 😃