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BAPE: THE COMPANY

A Bathing Ape (with a line of apparel called Bape) is a Japanese
clothing company that specializes in urban streetwear. It began
in 1993 as a T-shirt brand and originated out of the Harajuku area
of Shibuya in Tokyo becoming one of the very first Japanese
streetwear brands to start in the early 1990s. Bape's logo and
themes are all derived from the original Planet of the Apes movies.
The brand's name is based on a common Japanese saying,
"bathing in lukewarm water," that describes the willingness of
Japan's youth to follow popular trends.

Prior to starting his label the creator Nigo worked for Boon.
Boon is one of a number of mens magazines in Japan that
focuses on street name brand fetishism.

Bape is known for its shrewd marketing, particularly the use of
very limited production runs in order to stoke demand for its
product. Bape stores are also usually hard to find and are not
usually marked with signs to maintain exclusivity. Many stores
have a one product per person policy to prevent any of the items from appearing on the black market. Bape has become so popular in Japan that it was commissioned to design a limited edition Pepsi bottle. Over the years, Bape has extended its brand from T-shirts (Baby Milo & Bathing Ape) to other apparel such as sneakers, (Bape Sta trainers are also sold in the ultra trendy Foot Soldier shops) jeans and even underwear. A Bathing Ape has extended beyond clothing to a hair salon (Bape Cuts), gallery (Bape Gallery), cafe (Bape Cafe), record label (Ape Sounds) and (B)apeTV. A Bathing Ape also produces limited-edition hip hop-themed vinyl figures.

Although not as popular as the brand is in Japan, Bape has reached mainstream in the United States on account of popular entertainers wearing the brand, such as Pharrell Williams of hip hop production duo the Neptunes, the President of Def Jam Recordings, Jay-Z, C.E.O. of Carmal Clothing David Shellim, Fall Out Boy and rap-artists Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy and The Clipse. Due to the success of the creative live, Pharrell has collaborated on a clothing (Billionaire Boys Club) and sneaker (Ice Cream) line with its designer. Bape's popularity in the United States was cemented when he opened the first American Bape store in New York City in 2004.

A Bathing Ape's success has earned Nigo, the creator of Bape, a Lamborghini, an Aston Martin, a Bentley Continental Mulliner Edition, a Ferrari 360 Modena, Hummer H2, Rolls-Royce Phantom in Bape camo colors and a home valued at $30 million in Tokyo's plushest area Roppongi Hills. He is also in collaboration with Pharrell on his clothing line called Billionaire Boys Club. Nigo has also designed Pharrell's shoe line Ice Cream Footwear in collaboration with Reebok.

More recently, Bape, through lack of availability and demand on online auction sites, has spawned a large number of counterfeit items or FAPE(s). With the sheer numbers of Fape(sic) items produced their quality is becoming better and better and it is getting increasingly difficult to spot them. With the opening of a Busy Work Shop in LA toward the end of 2006 exposure and counterfeit products could be at an all time high. As of June 30th, 2006, Bape will launch its skate team, including newcomer Tyrone Brown.

In order to create even more exclusivity to its brand, Bape requires that visitors to its Bape.com website download a stand-alone executable file. When run, this program launches a full-sized window that showcases all the Bape brands.