The clothing brand originates in Tokyo, Japan where a designer by the name of Nigo. Nigo began the A Bathing Ape brand in a small way, starting out by selling tee shirts out of a small store in Harajuku, Japan which he called Nowhere Inc. He then started many more outlets and grew the Bape brand quickly within Japan by offering a costly brand of tee shirts and hoodies with original and inspired designs much to the liking of the youth in Japan with the money to buy these Bape hoodies, tee shirts, and BapeStas.
Bape in the USA
It wasn't long before Bape had to expand markets to the United States to the heartland of rap and hip hop which inspired Bape. Due to partnering with famous rapper Pharrel Williams and beginning a new range of clothing Billionaire Boys Club or BBC a new brand in the USA originated out of A Bathing Ape. Alongside BBC clothing, the Ice Cream Footwear label began in the USA accompanied by a New Bathing Ape store or “Busy Work Shop" which opened in Manhattan New York City.
Soon after its launch in the USA Bape saw a rise in popularity similar to that of Japan, by use of the American media through Rap and Hip Hop music videos where stars were seen wearing the famous bape, bbc, or ice cream clothing consumers in the states could not wait to get their hands on a Bape hoody, or tee, or pair of kicks.
However, supplies of Bape were very limited and the prices were driven up by the demand to result in the creation of another industry back in Asia...
Fake Bape or "Fape"
As Bape in authentic form is only cotton and ink for hoodies and tee shirts and basic air force one style shoes it was very easy and natural for fake bapes to come into production in China. Add in the exclusivity and 300$, 600$, 1000$ price tags of original Bape which costs maybe a few dollars to make consumers were ready to purchase a fake for maybe 100$ tops rather than purchase a rare authentic for maybe 10 times that price.
Nowadays, fake bape or fape is a far larger business than the original Bape mainly due to the fact that the quality is often the same and the copies are available at a fraction of the original cost and even include some popular styles and variations that the authentic does not.
If you see someone wearing A Bathing Ape walking down the street chances are it is a fake product due to the huge ratio of fake to real products.
