Get Your Paws on Me, You Damn Stinking Human.

Bape, A Bathing Ape is a clothing line worn by trendsetters and though not officially associated with NGSD, I'd like to see it as an affiliate. Set your wayback machine to 1993 in Harajuku when designer, Nigo, began a line of clothes featuring the ape heads (primarily Cornelius) from Planet of the Apes on t-shirts. Jump forward to today and you'll find that they've blossomed into one of the largest manufacturers of hip gear.

Bape originally sold exclusively at company-owned Busy Works Shops and focused mostly on men's apparel like T-shirts and hoodies, but has now created Bathing Ape brands to cater to women and children. The women's lines, Apee and Bapy, is usually sold in Busy Works/Bape stores, or have stores next door. Bape Kids, the children's line, has its own store in Tokyo. A Bathing Ape has even extended beyond clothing to a hair salon (Bape Cuts), gallery (Bape Gallery), cafe (Bape Cafe), record label (Ape Sounds) and (B)apeTV. Check out their website at: Bape

Accept no substitutes! There are plenty of knock-off Bape wannabes that market their gear to the hip hop crowd, but don't fall for these posers (Fake-ape or Fapes). "To ape" may mean "to imitate" but in this case, it's just not cool.

If we can only convince the Bape guys to forego the t-shirts and go full on into providing rad-gorilla costumes, then everyone will be willing to participate in National Gorilla Suit Day. Ahhh, one can dream.