So by now, most people having some sort of understanding of the whole I.T acquisition of A Bathing Ape. The most shocking figure for many is the sale price of less than $3 million USD. That aside, no one factor can specifically pinpoint where it all went wrong. I’m sure opening a BAPE STORE is an expensive venture to say the least… c’mon now a conveyor belt of sneakers and Wonderwall design. But looking to the future, I’m curious to see what I.T’s outlook is on the brand. Obviously the deal costs much more than $3 million USD since they’re taking over all of NOWHERE’s debt. With I.T’s positioning in Hong Kong and China, the most apparent expansion is into China. But how far will it go and will it all work out.

It’s all a complex issue that goes beyond just consumerism of the Mainland Chinese demographic but how the brand’s perception will fair if it becomes much more ubiquitous.

(below is a slightly edited comment I made on the site The Push Shove that I came across via this Neojapanisme site… found via my man Gary Warnett)

I personally think the overall success of BAPE in Chinese cultures wasn’t so much cause of relevant design. It was more so cause of the ability to associate value (not cultural value, but monetary value) with its product.

In the Chinese market, it’s not so much about looking good as it is exuding value. The visual identity of A Bathing Ape is pretty iconic and barring fakes, most people who see somebody else wearing BAPE will instantly recognize that this person is relatively affluent and was able to spend a decent amount of money to acquire the brand. Sidenote: Chinese people are seemingly the quintessential Hypebeast race haha

I’m not out to paint everybody under the same brush, but there is undoubtedly a Mainland demographic that buys based on this premise and this combined with deep Mainland pockets seem to be a profitable relationship for I.T.

I had a debate with a friend as to whether ubiquity of the brand in China meant that the “limited edition” factor would be removed and affect overall perception and sales. But he argued that pricing & cost can trump ubiquity to a certain extent. I mean if everybody was wearing BAPE, yes that would be overkill, but the extent to which people will mind being the 5 out of 100 that wear BAPE vs. 15 out of 100 might be marginal if everybody knows they’re spending money on items that most people cannot afford.

It’s a pretty interesting and complex issue though cause it goes beyond just the brand itself and it finds itself interwoven within how the Chinese consumer will react. For every story I hear about the Mainland Chinese consumer being prototypical in their desire for conspicious design, I also hear of those that are wanting to have a greater story behind the brands they consume. Which side will win out… I’m inclined to say that the buyer with the desire for conspicous aesthetics are among the nouveau rich and only a few generations down the road will we see more educated buyers emerge who don’t need to sell their wealth via highly visible and iconic aesthetics.

So having said that, maybe I.T can turn this sinking ship around in a relatively immature market like China, but nobody knows what the expansion plans are for BAPE. Many assume worst case scenario, every city in China with money (aka quite a few) will have their own BAPE STORE which will quickly drive down the global cachet of BAPE, but if you have the biggest and healthiest market in China firing on all cylinders, from a business stand point who cares about the rest of the world…

We work pretty closely with I.T and I fired off some short questions, we’ll see if they get answered.

-Eugene