UNDEFEATED & BATHING APE 2012 FALL/WINTER BEHIND THE TEE

Undefeated and A Bathing Ape present a behind the scenes look at their collaborative Fall/Winter 2012 Lookbook. Directed by Estevan Oriol the video stars Lil Pete Duran on site at the Azteca Boxing Club and features music by DJ Muggs. The collection will release on Black Friday November 23, 2012 at all Undefeated Retail Locations and on Undefeated.com.

BATHING APE & FRED PERRY 60TH ANNIVERSARY CAPSULE COLLECTION

Fred Perry continues to celebrate its 60th anniversary and has now teamed up with A Bathing Ape on a few pieces.

This is what Highsnobiety’s opinion was;
The logos, the two brands, it all sounds great and promising. Imagining the Bape head logo next to the Laurel logo of Fred Perry on their classic polo shirts is a great combo and at first it looks like that is what they did – unfortunately the first appearance does not hold up. We are disappointed – they messed this project up with massive prints on the back of the polos and t-shirts of the collaboration.

What do you think?

AMAZON & BATHING APE 2012 ‘AMAZON.CO.JP’ TEE

Amazon and A Bathing Ape have come together to promote the retailer’s Japanese arm of useful goods. Represented as the “Amazon.co.jp” T-shirt, signature elements, albeit nuanced, can be seen on the front and back of the predominantly white tee. The collaborative shirt can be purchased online for ¥6,090 JPY (approximately $76 USD).

BAPE & TRANSFORMERS PRIME CAPSULE COLLECTION

In its latest collaborative project, Bape has teamed up with Transformers Prime, the American computer-animated television series based on the Transformers toy franchise by Hasbro. Bape fused its own logos and characters with the icons of the Decepticons and Autobots robots from the series in the 6 piece t-shirt collection.

Look out for a release of the t-shirt at Bape stores on October 27, 2012.

BAPE STORE LONDON CELEBRATES IT’S 10TH ANNIVERSARY IN TEES & RE-INTRODUCES THE VERY APE UK

The Bape Store in London is celebrating its 10th anniversary. For the occasion Bape will be holding a special event with i-D Magazine and of course they also have some nice product releases planned for the occasion.
The ‘Very Ape UK’ line will be re-introduced for the anniversary. Those of you that have not been around at the time, Very Ape UK was Made in UK A Bathing Ape product and some of the first product that the UK got to see from the Japanese brand. Unlike the original Bape head that looks west, the custom Very Ape UK head looks east.

The products will drop at the Bape Store London on October 20th.

HUMAN MADE FALL/WINTER 2012 LOOKBOOK EDITORIAL WITH NIGO

i-D Magazine has caught up with NIGO, the Japanese designer and founder of A Bathing Ape, who runs now his new vintage inspired label Human Made. They talk about vintage hunting, his deepest vintage-scavenging secret, as well as how he drinks his coffee.

Along with the interview they also preview the new Human Made Fall/Winter 2012 Collection Lookbook, which we can show you some tees from.

Read the full interview here.

THE ROLLING STONES CELEBRATE THEIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY IN COTTONFREAK STYLE

These kind of collaborations one can only imagine happening in Japan. The Rolling Stones are celebrating their 50th anniversary in style. In a special collaboration series, the band teams up with a series of streetwear brands, with each one remixing the iconic lips and tongue logo of the Stones.

The line-up includes Bape, Billionaire Boys Club, Number (N)ine, Swagger and Luker by Neighborhood, with each brand designing several t-shirts as part of the cooperation.

You can purchase all tees now from Zozo.

BAPE & LeBRON JAMES’ UNKNWN T-SHIRT COLLECTION FREAK PREVIEW

An interesting new collaboration has been announced this week by A Bathing Ape. The Japanese brand has teamed up with Miami’s UNKNWN store, owned by NBA player LeBron James, on a series of t-shirts. The Bape and the UNKNWN logos are being fused on the two t-shirts, with designs hinting at LeBron’s Miami Heat team and the back of the tees of course feature his jersey number.

The UNKNWN x Bape T-Shirts will release on October 13, at UNKNWN and of course also at Bape stores.

HIGHSNOBIETIES 10 REASONS WHY HIGH FASHION BEATS STREETWEAR IN THEIR OWN GAME

One of the main trends that we have been witnessing in recent years is the steady move of high fashion brands into the streetwear market. Entire brand relaunches have been based on it, with Givenchy maybe being the most prominent one. When talking about streetwear, we do not mean denim or leather jackets, we mean bold graphic t-shirts and attention seeking sneakers. When a few years ago high fashion was exclusively known for premium materials and proper cuts, today things look a little different. Their graphics have become very interesting and their expertise in fabrics and special treatments is obviously also adding to the appeal  of their products. Givenchy, Christopher Kane, Paul Smith, Marc Jacobs producing all over print tees is nothing new anymore. Margiela and Louboutin making solid sneakers that might actually get more eye balls than the latest Nike Dunk is also routine at this point. Has the consumer changed, has streetwear not been able to defend its own territory or what else could have caused this change?

One thing is for sure, after we have seen extremely bold moves in streetwear from brands like The Hundreds, 10.Deep, A Bathing Ape and others in the 2005-2007 period, with the crash of the global economy, everybody focussed again on more timeless and quality garments. Maybe this recent trend is the follow-up to the extreme simplicity that we have witnessed in recent years.

Here below we have worked on 10 reasons that we believe make High Fashion beat streetwear at its own game at the moment.

1. Credibility – Because of their expertise and history in the high fashion industry anything that the High Fashion labels create can only be the best.
2. Quality – The High Fashion brands have a greater range of possibilities to work with the highest quality fabrics and the best manufacturing facilities.
3. Designers – Pulling great designers from everywhere with promising career possibilities for most reasonable payment the High Fashion brands have the best sources of fresh, skilled, best educated designers.
4. Innovations – Working with newest developments also in the scientific area High Fashion brands can afford to research and use new inventions to optimize fabrics and give their collection items new aspects.
5. Collaborations – Because everybody wants to work with the top designers, there are never ending options of collaborations with brands, labels and artists always creating new special editions.
6. Independence – Not having to rely on retailers because the High Fashion brands mostly have their own stores to sell the products they are independent to take their freedoms.
7. Difference – Sneakers have become so common and widely accepted in society that they are worn by the masses. Unique in this environment is who differentiates himself by wearing a sneaker that is not mass produced.
8. Communication – Having the resources to commission huge campaigns to advertise with testimonials that draw highest attention and have real credibility.
9. Exclusivity through availability – The demand for High Fashion is higher than the availability. Often the brands release less quantity that is exclusively to purchase in their own flagship stores.
10. Exclusivity through pricing – The high prices for those High Fashion brands are often higher than the usual customer can and regularly afford which creates an even higher desire for those items.

Let them know if you agree or if you do not agree in their comments!