Will BAPE Ever Die?

Not long after their inception in the early 90's, A Bathing Ape clothing brand has been in the limelight and endorsed by household names in hip-hop. From guys like Biggie and Kanye, to more iconic BAPE representatives like Pharrell, Lil Wayne, Clipse, Juelz Santana, and Kid Cudi, the label has gone full circle around the scape of rap. The notorious camo print is so prided it has been a factor in beef, see Lil Wayne vs. Clipse. Becoming a testament and reward to wealth, similar to high fashion lines like Gucci, Raf Simmons, Louis Vuitton, and others, none have been quite as consistent as BAPE. I say this referring to their ability to consistently stay relevant for the better part of the past twenty years. Not to mention the full scope of personnel they touch. They have been able to bridge a gap of fashion between figures like Chris Brown and De La Soul. The latter being an age group that wouldn't typically fit the bill, but BAPE has managed to stay in with demographics that would potentially sour at the idea of highly materialistic symbols. But, they seem to be much more than that. They're worn with the aforementioned pride. Today, we see faces like Ski Mask the Slump God and Yung Lean sporting the line head to toe, along with essentially the rest of the genre. But, will BAPE ever be played out? Is there ever going to be a time when they just don't cut it? They maintain popularity in so many directions, like their media collaborations. They somehow didn't take any sort of PR damage from the Minions collaboration of late, nor from older Hello Kitty or Spongebob collabs. Is BAPE bulletproof (they may have a line of bulletproof vests, I'm not sure)? Perhaps what Nigo spearheaded back in the day is always going to be here to stay.

Check out some famous BAPE sporters below.

The Notorious.