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A Bathing Ape (or BAPE) is a Japanese clothing company founded by Tomoaki "Nigo" Nagao in 1993.^[1] The company specializes in street wear, 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.

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.^[2] He also credits DJ/Head Porter designer Hiroshi Fujiwara as his business model.^[3] His nickname literally means "second version" in Japanese; the MD of Astoarobot, the fashion store, coined the moniker when he noted the physical resemblance to Fujiwara.^[4] Nigo cites his early influences as Elvis, The Beatles and hip-hop acts such as Run DMC and Woobens.^[2]

After studying fashion editing at college, he worked as an editor and a stylist for Popeye magazine.^[3] After borrowing four million yen from an acquaintance, who also let him use his shop,^[2] 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 "BAPE" is short for "A Bathing Ape In Lukewarm Water". Japanese people typically have daily baths in water at temperatures above 40 degrees celsius (104°F). As such, bathing in luke warm water is to complacently over indulge. This is, ironically, a reference to the lazy opulence of the younger generation of Japanese, the brand's own customers.^[2] To expose the brand he gave T-shirts to 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 'Ape Sounds' under Mo'Wax, with DJ/Producer James Lavelle of UNKLE. ^[4] In January 2005, Nigo and Pharrell launched the first "Bathing Ape" store in New York. The official name, according to the salespeople at the store, is "A Bathing Ape in Lukewarm Water."^[5] Nigo is also co-owner and head designer of Williams' Billionaire Boys Club.^[6] 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.^[3] Lavelle wore a BAPE t-shirt on the cover his mix album Global Underground 023: Barcelona.

Celebrities known to wear BAPE include Ian Brown, Pharrell, T.I., Lil Wayne, Teriyaki Boyz, Kanye West, Omarion, Ryan Ballard, Soulja Boy, Clipse, Adrian Orange, Ad-Rock, Mark Hoppus, Benjamin English, Kid Cudi and many others. ^[7]