headquarters sydney australia key people gareth moody dan single george gorrow paul wislon oscar wright products apparel accessories net income aus dollar 17 million number of employees 29 website www.ksubi.com ksubi formerly known as tsubi is an australian fashion label co founded by gareth moody dan single george gorrow paul wilson and oscar wright . the brand founded in 1999 was placed in the hands of receivers on 18 december 2013 leaving many staff sacked and with their final wages and entitlements including superannuation in doubt . the receivers have kept the seven retail outlets online shop and a wholesale business trading for the time being while they assess the label s financial situation . 1 contents 1 history 2 collaborations 3 stores 4 online presence 5 name change 6 pronunciation 7 controversy 8 alba fan club 9 books and photography exhibitions 10 musical side projects 11 contemporary culture 12 external links 13 references history edit in 2000 paul wilson oscar wright gareth moody dan single and george gorrow were dissatisfied with the range of jeans on the market and could not find pairs that fit properly . under the name tsubi they started manufacturing their jeans and other denim clothing . in 2001 tsubi made international headlines when they released 130 live rats onto the catwalk show at australian fashion week tsubi made its international debut in london in 2002 with fashion displays held in an abandoned tube station at aldwych . following this tsubi was sold in a concession at selfridges department store in london alongside the likes of stella mccartney martin margiela givenchy and marc jacobs . in 2006 tsubi changed its name to ksubi . ksubi has three official stores and their garments jeans and eyewear are sold in boutiques around the world . the ksubi group quickly grew to a turnover of a 19.7 million in 2007 prior to suffering major operational and financial issues in 2008 . in 2010 ksubi was purchased by the clothing manufacturer bleach who also own and produce insight and something else . 2 despite ksubi having a very successful 2013 ksubi s parent company bleach went into liquidation and ksubi was acquired in a hostile takeover by saif mansour from californian based breakwater capitol . saif promptly removed all the founders of the business and began trading by replicating all the old ksubi trademark designs and prints . on 12 september 2012 co founder george gorrow announced his resignation as creative director . george noted that he was leaving ksubi on good terms but wanted take some time out to spend time with his wife and practise surfing . 3 in 2014 gorrow re emerged founding an art based fashion label called cocurata with new york based gallerist and curator george benias after they met through mutual friends in new york . they are currently being sold as a vertical brand at fashion retailer general pants co after being picked up by ceo craig king in 2014 . 4 collaborations edit in 2006 a collaborative project with u.s. style icon and fashion designer jeremy scott called jeremy loves ksubi was shown at scott s new york fashion week parade alongside his own collection . previewing at london fashion week in september 2007 was ksubi s latest collaboration ksubi for richard nicoll sunglasses ss08 designed by nicoll made by ksubi . the eyewear collection consists of three styles and draws colour from nicoll s collection . stores edit ksubi has 6 stores in australia in the sydney suburbs of bondi and paddington sydney cbd in melbourne central and chapel street south yarra 5 and most recently in brisbane s fortitude valley on james street . in 2005 ksubi opened its first international store in the fashionable new york city downtown nolita district of soho with a launch party that attracted the likes of models such as erin wasson and the 2 many djs crew . guests were entertained by the dj sets of paddy boom from the scissor sisters the rapture dangerous dan james friedman and australian band cut copy performing live . the new york store has since closed . as of october 2009 ksubi will feature in 19 shop in shop concept stores within david jones . the ksubi that is available through david jones will include exclusive lines that are priced lower than their traditional boutique range . 6 online presence edit in may 2012 ksubi launched its online store to complement its existing retail base . name change edit in 2006 single and gorrow reached an out of court settlement with u.s. shoe company tsubo who threatened to sue tsubi following a trademark infringement dispute . tsubo argued in a new york court that tsubi s use of the first four letters of its name was a breach of its trademark which was established in 1998 and had been registered in australia before tsubi was created . the dispute settlement terms means tsubi will keep its name in australia but will now be known as ksubi in the rest of the world . while the brand which thrives on notoriety was not damaged by the name change there was a lot of talk in the media about the daunting task facing single and gorrow rebranding the label to the rest of the world and creating a new identity and name recognition for the new brand name ksubi . pronunciation edit ksubi is pronounced as soobie in australian accents and sue bee in american accents . the first letter in both ksubi and their earlier name tsubi has always been silent . controversy edit the label hit headlines around the world in 2001 when they unleashed 200 live rats onto the catwalk . alba fan club edit in 2006 single and gorrow designed and released a diffusion line of fashion for australian chain store jeans west called alba fan club . originally planned as a cheaper and limited edition label due to its success and popularity in australia and new zealand the designers are now contemplating a wider international market for the brand . alba fan club has featured in the august 2007 issue of nylon magazine . books and photography exhibitions edit in 2005 ksubi released a book to mark their five year anniversary . they held launches for it in sydney paris tokyo london hong kong and los angeles . following this in 2006 ksubi also toured an exhibition of campaign photographs they commissioned for their eyewear range magnum opus to sydney melbourne perth and paris . in 2007 ksubi produced and released the book sign of the times the photographic reportage style book featured photos by george gorrow paul wilson and michael nolan . the photos captured the journey of a 7 ft high ksubi sculpture depicting a giant hand doing the peace symbol with the fingers cut off and bleeding . the sculpture was toured by ksubi from los angeles to the burning man festival in nevada and then across country to new york . musical side projects edit 2006 also saw ksubi collaborating with record label k7 . single under the name dj dangerous dan mixed a cd under the ksubi banner for a national and international release of k7 ksubi presents dj kicks cd for k7 records . this project is the first of many that sees ksubi becoming more involved in the music scene . dan single or dangerous dan is also part of prominent sydney based dj six piece bang gang . bang gang consists of ajax nolan jamie doom gus da hoodrat dj damage and dangerous dan . their early party days in dark nightclubs such as 3rd class in melbourne and have progressed to supporting daft punk in their nevereverland tour of australia in late 2007 . contemporary culture edit ksubi jeans are referenced in the song leaving los feliz by mark ronson from the 2015 album uptown special as well as the song lord by a ap ferg ft. bone thugs n harmony from the 2013 trap lord . external links edit official website ksubi eyewear references edit halliwell elle 18 december 2013 . australian fashion label ksubi goes into receivership . herald sun . news ltd. retrieved 18 december 2013 . lahey kate 17 february 2010 . troubled ksubi finds buyer as liquidation looms large . fairfax media . retrieved 2010 08 04 . ksubi company profile . australian fashion review . 12 september 2012 . retrieved 12 september 2012 . http www.sbs.com.au news article 2014 03 29 ksubi back aussie stores soon 0 http westfield.com.au sydney directory detail store retailer 42573 ksubi for david jones retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ksubi & oldid 743071465 categories clothing brands of australiaretail companies established in 1999 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 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