A Bathing Ape (or BAPE) is a Japanese
clothing company founded by Tomoaki "Nigo" Nagao in 1993. The company
specializes in urban and hip hop fashion, operating stores in Japan,
including BAPE, BAPE Store, Foot Soldier and the Bape Exclusive store
(located in Aoyama, Tokyo). The company also operates Bape Cuts hair
salon, Bape Café and gallery, Bape Sounds records. There are also
stores located in Hong Kong, London, New York, Taipei and Los Angeles.
Nigo also founded the women's clothing lines "APEE", and "BAPY", the
female "couture" clothing line.
History
Nigo, founder and
owner, cites his mother and father, who were a nurse and a billboard
maker respectively, as major influences in the development of his
character. Though because they both worked, he spent a lot of time
alone with toys. He also credits DJ/Head Porter designer Hiroshi
Fujiwara as his business model. His nickname literally means "number
two" in Japanese; the MD of Astoarobot, the fashion store, coined the
moniker when he noted the physical resemblance to Fujiwara. Nigo cites
his early influences as Elvis, The Beatles and hip-hop acts such as Run
DMC and Woobens.
After studying fashion editing at college, he
worked as an editor and stylist for Popeye magazine. After borrowing
four million yen from an acquaintance, who also let him use his shop,
he opened "Nowhere", his first store, on April 1, 1993 in Harajuku,
Tokyo. Deciding to start his own brand, he named it after the 1968 film
Planet of the Apes. According to Nigo, the name "A Bathing Ape" is
short for a Japanese saying "bathing in lukewarm water". Japanese
people typically have daily baths in water at temperatures above 40
degrees celsius. As such, bathing in luke warm water is to complacently
over indulge. This is, ironically, a reference to the lazy oppulence of
the younger generation of Japanese, the brand's own customers.
To
expose the brand he gave T-shirts to the lead singer of Cornelius who
wore them when performing. For two years he produced 30 to 50 shirts a
week, selling half and giving half to friends. In 1997, Nigo released
his debut album 'Bape Sounds' under Mo'Wax, with DJ/Producer James
Lavelle of UNKLE. In January 2005, Nigo and Pharrell Williams launched
the first "Bathing Ape" store in New York. The official name, according
to the salespeople at the store, is "Bathing Ape in Lukewarm Water."
Nigo is also co-owner and head designer of Williams' Billionaire Boys
Club. In 2006, Nigo and N-Kei Enzaki started a record company, Ape
Sounds, with help from James Lavelle, a UK DJ and owner of the Mo' Wax
label. He serves as a producer and director for his CDs, blending
Western hip-hop with Asian sounds.