Thread: Bape sold for the price of ten t shirts

Bape like many Japanese ventures is being gobbled up by the cheaper competition. The company sold for less than $3 million (i'm sure Nigo could sell one of his fully stocked cribs for more)! I have no comment but the days of pure Japanese hype are fading fast.

The company lost money the past two years even though Nigo seemingly denies the fact. He got rid of it to keep the company alive. It's unfortunate for sure.

Nigo's business model was unbending. Too much production when it was time to taper off and return to quality and exclusivity.

Yeah, agreed on that. Mind you I was never huge on Bape to begin with, I do understand it. When the LA store closed down after the International high that they had been on for during the mid 2000s many people saw the demise happening pretty soon I think.

And he was surprisingly honest in a recent interview:

WWD sat down with Nigo from A Bathing Ape to finally shine some light on the situation of the brand and why he decided to sell the brand, as reported by us last week, to Hong Kong fashion conglomerate I.T.

““Basically, I can’t do business. I’m not suited for it. I wish I had had a partner on the business side from the beginning,” said a surprisingly upbeat Nigo, whose real name is Tomoaki Nagao. The music and fashion impresario said he always thought he would sell the company he incorporated in 1995.

“I turned 40 [last December], there was the turning point of the brand reaching nearly 20 years since its establishment, and I think I made a forward-looking choice,” he said, acknowledging the brand’s popularity in Japan has faded in recent years. “About two or three years ago the brand and the company got too big for me to handle, plus there was the problem with the economy, and the number of things I wasn’t able to control on my own increased, so I started looking for a partner.” “

Hopefully this gave him a heads up and maybe he tries to build something focused on quality and exclusivity as David mentioned above.

not exactly 2.8 mil. that was his cash out. they were 32 million in debt.

In addition to the purchase, I.T will also guarantee the company's outstanding loans of 2.6 billion yen.

im a huge bape fan :-)

I have a ton of japanese clothes going back to the late 80s. the prices were outrageous then and remain so. who can buy $400 wallets that have flash in the pan appeal nowadays. I can see buying something timeless like LV for that price but not some brooding craftsman's latest whim.

sad to hear about bape as i've followed them throughout the years. nigo is genius and has a huge following. its only a matter of time before he comes out with a new concept.

It was bound to happen. Companies like this (Affliction, Ed Hardy, etc) are very in-the-moment and are not sustainable brands.