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A Bathing Ape is a Japanese clothing brand founded by Nigo in Ura-Harajuku in 1993. The brand is specialized in men's, women's and children's lifestyle and streetwear, and it is actually running 19 stores in Japan.
After studying fashion editing at college, he worked as editor and stylist for Popeye magazine. After borrowing money from an acquaintance, who also let him use his shop, he opened "Nowhere", his first store, along with Jun Takahashi of Undercover, on April 1, 1993 in Ura-Harajuku.
Deciding to start his own brand, he named it after the 1968 film "Planet of the Apes". According to Nigo, the name "BAPE" is a reference to "A Bathing Ape in Lukewarm Water". Japanese people typically have daily baths in water at temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 °F). As such, to bathe in lukewarm water is to complacently overindulge. This is an ironic reference to the lazy opulence of the younger generation of Japanese, the brand's own customers.
To expose the brand he gave T-shirts to the musician Cornelius, who wore them while performing. For two years he produced 30 to 50 shirts a week, selling half and giving half to friends.
Nigo is also co-owner and head designer of Pharrell Williams clothes brands Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream.
Nowadays Bape frequently collaborates with other brands and features characters from popular media comics characters.
