How do you build a brand that sells $500 shoes and $700 jackets and constantly sell out of stock?
I first heard about Bape while chatting with a college friend who lives in Connecticut. He told me he walked forty blocks in NYC just to get to the Bape store so he could buy a pair of $500 shoes. This really surprised me so I decided to find out what would cause a poor college student to spend "money out the wazoo" on an unknown brand.
author's note: I do not own any Bape brand items nor was I paid to write about them.
me: I heard you walked 10 blocks for a pair of shoes.
patrick: 10 blocks? try 40+
me: holy
me: for what? What brand is that?
p: i bought some more a week ago
p: bape
me: whats so cool abt them
p: rare and exclusive
p: i may buy a pair of shoes from that site.
me: haha..wow
p: the ice creams
p: i already bought a pair of shorts and a shirt
p: penguin shirt and shorts
me: wow
me: niiice
p: www.bape.com
p: you have to download their thing
me: oh ok
me: what make bape cooler than nike, converse or adidas?
me: just bc its more rare?
p: also its very exclusive
p: and underground
me: howd u hear abt it
p: like they only make 150 pairs of each color?
p: i saw kanye west wearing a bape shirt in a music video and i wondered what it was
p: i looked it up found out about the brand
p: i am now hooked
me: Wow. That's insane.
p: i am about to buy a bape camo belt
me: what feeling does it give you to own bape stuff
p: rich
p: hahaha
p: stylish?
p: i own a hoodie, a t shirt, a pair of shoes so far
p: i bought another shirt
p: another pair of shoes and im about to buy the belt
me: like what if i told you that they sell Bape stuff in Colombia for like $10
p: its probably fake
me: (I made that up)
p: hahaha
me: haha
p: its easy to tell whats fake
p: you have to buy from people who are dependable anyways
me: do u like bape bc its anti-society
me: Is it anti-mainstream?
p: theres like 5 people on ebay who sell real stuff
p: thats not it at all
p: like adidas and nike are mainstream
p: thats not even the brand
p: the brand isnt trying to be anti establishment
p: its trying to stay underground by staying expensive and exclusive
p: but not to piss anyone off
p: i like it because its cool stuff
p: let me show you the shirt i got
p: Now I want to buy these.
After reading about patrick's fascination read about the founder of the brand, Nigo. Excerpted below.
Nigo never set out to become Japan's hottest fashion designer or an internationally famous arbiter of style, or to show young people how to rebel without losing their cool...Since then, Nigo has carefully nurtured his label, A Bathing Ape, into a cultural phenomenon by striking a fine balance between exclusivity and mass appeal...Says Japanese neopop painter Takashi Murakami: "One of the things that makes him attractive is the sense of mystery he creates." This mystique has bestowed cachet on Nigo's clothes and accessories even among some of the West's coolest celebrities, ranging from New York City graffiti artist Futura 2000 to British hip-hop legend James Lavelle to the Beastie Boys. "Nigo is by far the biggest icon of Japanese fashion," says Jun Nemoto, fashion editor at the Japanese edition of GQ. "He's got an amazing aesthetic."
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Marketing: Starting your own brand and making it bigger than both Nike and adidas 101
Labels: marketing
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
6 comments:
that's weird. so weird. i understand exclusive content, but given the descriptions of the clothes, they don't seem to be especially worth it.
also, it's kind of wild that he cares enough about kanye west's clothes to look into it. i guess the level that people obsess over celebrities is greater than i thought.
Just to add a little more to my viewpoint.
It's interesting because I know paying for this stuff is utterly ridiculous, but I still want to anyways. A lot of this brand is all about hype and exclusivity; it really helps to know that when you buy something from this company, at most, 1000 people have it worldwide.
I guess a lot of it is also the marketing aspect. If your product is seen on a rapper or on someone of importance, it really makes you want to buy it. I know it sounds like common sense, but that's the best way I can describe it.
Maybe advertising is evil afterall. Think of all the people who could be fed from the money used to buy one pair of shoes, or how many shoes could have been bought to put on the feet of people who walk around with nothing to protect them from the ground beneath them.
interesting stuff
To the first anonymous comment,
No, I am not obsessed with celebrities.
The reason I got into the brand was not because of the fact that Kanye was wearing the shirt; that was just marketing for all I'm concerned. The real reason I got into the brand was because the shirt he was wearing was pretty damn cool to me. So I looked into it a bit and found the brand.
Just because Kanye West was wearing a shirt I thought was cool does not mean I am "obsessing" over him; it could have been some student walking around campus for all I care. My friend, who wrote the post, can attest to this.
Delving into my character, when you have never even met me, is the last thing you should do. Instead, take the time to make a comment without coming off as conceited.
I'm sure you're nowhere near perfect.
And David,
The shoes are $200 a pair. But the point is still valid for the second anonymous comment.
To you, I say that, although it may not look like it from my obviously gaudy expenditures, I do agree with you that a lot of this stuff is just another show of capitalism at its best (worst?). Feed the insatiable hunger of greed and demand, bleed the poor; it's human nature and business conveniently intertwined.
Post a Comment