RVCA

Brand Overview

RVCA (phonetically: rue-cuh) is a clothing company with roots in both art and surf/skate culture. While producing everything from board shorts to track jackets, RVCA is probably best known for its t-shirts featuring graphics from contemporary artists and released through the brand's Artist Network Program. RVCA has managed to transcend the typical placement of an action sports brand through their alignment with the world of emerging artists. The brand sits comfortably in both high-end boutiques, as well as skate shops. The Company gained a lot of notriety when they collaborated with Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo on some pieces in their collection.

Brand History

The concept behind RVCA was conceived in large part by the company's founder and designer, PM Tenore. Tenore's vision was to create a design-driven brand that flows simultaneously with an active lifestyle. RVCA walks the line between contemporary and active wear, and trys to stay away from the trends in the surf, street, skate and snowboard industries.

Disenchanted with action sports branding and design contraints, and acutely aware of the Legitimacy barriers confronting mainstream sportswear companies, Tenore created RVCA to be a more organic brand that didn't have to follow industry rules.

RVCA Clothing takes its roots in American workwear and adds function and fashion for every day every situation. Wearability, Nature, Industrialization.

Enter Conan Hayes. Tenore and Hayes Became childhood friends when they met while surfing the north shore in 1988. Later in 2002, they met up in New York, where Tenore shared his vision of this new brand--a brand that would represent a balance of opposites and how they coexist: water, oil, air, land, destruction, industrialization, art, science, foreign, domestic, order, anarchy, past, present.

Hayes, an established professional surfer, found himself doing something he would have never previously imagined: declining a lucrative pro surfing contract to pursue Tenore's vision. Hayes recounts the decision as "one of the biggest of my life."

As RVCA grew, so did the Artist Network Program--an ongoing program to showcase the talent of establishing as well as unknown artists who inspire our generation. Through the program, RVCA donates partial proceeds from designs sold to each artist's charity of choice.

Artist/Pro Skater, Ed Templeton (whom ten years previous to RVCA's beginning, would show his art in Tenore's skate boutique) became the first artist to participate in the Artist Network Program. Donating his proceeds to The Luggage Store Gallery in San Fransisco, Templeton paved the way for other artists to use their works to help raise awareness and benefit the community.

RVCA collaborated with Reebok for the second edition of the Basquiat shoe series. The Reebok Basquiat Shoe Announcement in February 2006 and the Official Reebopper Release, was in July of 2006 which was the first shoe production for RVCA.

The Name

The 'V' looking character in RVCA's name is a 'U'. The 'U' is written in traditional Roman script, and thus appears as a 'V'. RVCA is sometimes pronounced "err-vick-uh", both purposely and ignorantly, due to this convention. Occasionally, RVCA is written in a different script or appears in art where it is clear that the true name is 'Ruca'. 'Ruca' can be translated as "clothing" in Greek, and it is believed the 'V' as 'U' convention arises from this Greco-Roman connection.

A common RVCA logo is to simply feature the 'V' and 'A' from the full Roman-text logo, appearing as an 'up-arrow' and 'down-arrow' side-by-side.

Contributing Artists (incomplete list)

Jeremy Acuna, Kevin Ancell, Brandon Bird, Neil Blender, Brandon Boyd, Ron Cameron, David Choe, Matt Gordon, Tommy Guerrero, Conan Hayes, Aaron Horkey, Ben Horton, Carolyn Hwang, Jo Jackson, Christian Jacobs (The Aquabats), Rich Jacobs, Jack Johnson, Alex Knost, Matt Leines, Chris Lindig, Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Barry McGee (TWIST), Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo), Mark Mulroney, Russ Pope, Stephen Powers (ESPO), Jason Reyes, Rory, Christopher Ruess, Deanna Templeton, Ed Templeton, George Thompson, Rebecca Westcott, Aloysious Dougherty III

Recent Collections

Fall 2006

Reebok x Basquiat x RVCA Reebopper II Shoe (RVCA / Reebok Collaboration)

External Links

Official RVCA Site
ANP Quarterly
RVCA MySpace Page

Category

CategoryBrandProfile