Latest case in point is my woodland camo cap. Something I was quite fond of back in the day and if I remember correctly parted with upwards of £60 for. Well it just got me £11.50 at auction.
It's a bit of a shame, but nothing lasts forever and this is a prime example of what can happen when your brand is adopted by the seedier side of urban street life. One minute Bathing Ape had cult status among the media luvvies of Soho, who picked it up on the back of James Lavelle of UNKLE and Ian Brown's product placement, and the next, via N.E.R.D's Pharrell Williams, you had R'n'B singers like Chris Brown wearing it and every wannabe gangsta on either side of the Atlantic wearing the playgroup themed hoodies in XL sizes. Anybody could see Bape was doomed.
Pharrell got a taste of his own medicine when his Billionnaire Boys' Club label was hijacked by the gangsta element - in fact it would be safe to say it never got off the ground.
Still, Nigo, Bathing Ape and BBC's creator, is making a valiant last stand by reopening his Bape store in Upper James Street after closing it in favour of a capsule collection within a shipping container in Dover Street Market.
But Nigo would be wise to check eBay. If nothing else, the auction site is the ultimate barometer of market tastes, and when prices of Bape tank on eBay, it's time for Nigo to think up a new strategy.
Hopefully one that doesn't end up with the label being bombed by a bunch of gangstas and the death sentence they put on any clothing brand they adopt.
Im 2 years late but id just like to say a few things. 1st of all Nigo over did it. Bape Salons, car washes, bites from other shoes killed the brand. It wasnt hood cats or gangster rappers that murdered the brand. The sizes in what they wore didnt matter either. In the 90's everyone had there clothes baggy. Now its frowned upon even though the same people that talk shit about baggy clothes are quick to sag there tight pants.
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