1993

A Bathing Ape (BAPE) is founded by producer and DJ Nigo (Tomoaki Nagao) in Ura-Harajuku, Japan.

The name "A Bathing Ape" comes from the saying "a bathing ape in lukewarm water," which describes young people living complacent and sheltered lives whose only concern is passing exams.

The brand began by printing dozens of shirts that soon spread throughout Japan.

1998

More than five years after its founding, the Japanese streetwear brand was available in 40 stores in Japan. In 1998, Nigo changed this when he made a drastic and seemingly regressive move to stop all sales in all but one location.

Soon sales in that one store were as good, if not better, than when BAPE was still sold in 40 stores. This bold decision contributed to the brand's exclusive image and, in retrospect, worked in BAPE's favour.

Early 2000s

Bathing Ape was in its peak years. The brand focused on several campaigns, including the commercial with Pepsi in 2002.

The well-known ABC-CAMO motif appeared on many of BAPE's garments worn by musicians such as Kanye West, Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams, Notorious B.I.G. and actor Robin Williams.

The colourful "Shark" hoodie was particularly popular and appeared in several music videos.

2002

The BAPE STA sneaker was introduced. The sneaker was suspiciously reminiscent of the Nike Air Force 1, designed by Bruce Kilgore, but instead of a Swoosh, it had the 'STA' logo on the centre panel.

More than 20 years after its debut, the BAPE STA is still a beloved sneaker among sneaker lovers worldwide.

2007

Nigo teams up with rapper Kanye West and releases the BAPE STA "College Dropout. The sneaker takes inspiration from the rapper's debut album with the upper featuring the bear that appears on the album cover. With exclusive runs, the sneaker is still a sneaker grail to this day.

Names like KAWS, Ronnie Fieg, JJJound and Solebox followed Kanye West and released their own colorways of the BAPE STA sneaker in the following years.