Collaborations
Pepsi
Bape did multiple collaborations with the soft drink company, Pepsi, starting with their first collaboration in 2001. Nigo approached Pepsi to work on a collaborative collection of bottles sold exclusively in Japan. The famous Bape camo print was plastered on the aluminium bottles and sold in select locations in Japan. If you went back in time and purchased a bottle for retail price, which was less than a dollar, you would have purchased the cheapest Bape item ever made. Nowadays, these bottles can go for over a hundred dollars. Nigo would collab with Pepsi again in 2012 except with his other brand, AAPE.
Hello Kitty
Bape had multiple collaborations with the Japanese entertainment company, Sanrio, which created Hello Kitty. Sanrio designs, licenses, and produces products focusing on the kawaii ("cute") segment of Japanese pop-cultue, so it is no suprise Nigo decided to use Baby Milo as the collaboration item. The designs featured both characters holding hands, wearing each others clothes, and playing. Baby milo would appear alongside other Sanrio characters like My Melody, a popular cartoon character in Japan. Nigo would collaborate with Sanrio again in 2021 releasing a Bapesta shoe featuring both the Baby Milo and Hello Kitty characters.
Adidas
Once Nigo launched Bapesta in 2002, his sneakers gained popularity all over the world. But the brand was yet to recieve an official sneaker collaboration. That was until a year later when Adidas and Bape teamed up to create the "Super Ape Star". The famous Bape camo was featured on the classic Adidas Superstar shoe, which had gained its own popularity through the Run-DMC song, "My Adidas". Nigo would collaborate with Adidas multiple times with the famous Bape camo plastered on track jackets and pants, windbreakers, and more shoes. Nigo and Pharrell Williams would also partner with Adidas on their joint brand, Human Made.
Coca-Cola
The Summer of 2020 saw a collaboration between Coca-Cola and Bape featuring black, white, and red colorways and Bape head logos plastered on Coca-Cola bottles. This collection featured more clothing than the Pepsi collab, including hoodies, t-shirts, trucker hats, headbands, swim trunks, and even kimonos. The pair of Bapestas in this collection saw the Coca-Cola logo incorporated on the side along with a bottle top chain attached with the Bape logo imprented. Baby Milo also makes an appearance on a bike riding across the Coca-Cola logo.
SpongeBob SquarePants
Bape collaborated with the famous Nikelodeon cartoon series Spongebob Squarepants in 2008. This collection featured a pair of bright yellow Bapestas with Spongebob's face on the heel. The collection aslo featured a plush doll of Spongebob with Baby Milo laying on his head, as well as t-shirts with Bob Milo instead of Baby Milo. The collection expanded in 2014 with popular items like the classic full zip hoodie making an appearance. To promote this collection, large costumes of the Baby Milo character and Spongebob were produced and employees wore them in front of retail stores.
Marvel
The Marvel and BAPE universe have met numerous times for collaborations. First was in 2005 with a collection of t-shirts and sneakers featuring classic Marvel characters like Thor, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, and the X-Men. Next, they would release a small Spiderman capsule collection and then one involving The Avengers. One of the best part of this collaboration was the packaging for the Bapesta shoes. Each came boxed in the same way all your favorite action figures came in.
DC Comics
Bape would collaborate with DC comics in 2007 following the collab they did with Marvel. Many harcore fans of DC comics were frustrated that they only collabed with Marvel. To solve this dispute, Bape collaborated with DC to feature iconic DC characters like Batman, The Flash, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Many Bapesta shoes were made using the classic colors of these DC characters and the Batman hoodie even had ears just like the crime fighting hero himself.
Star Wars
In 2011, Bape would collaborate with Lucasfilm, the legendary television company founded by George Lucas, to promote the upcoming release of Star Wars on Blu-ray disc. The t-shirts feature Baby Milo hanging out with Star Wars characters such as R2-D2, Chewbacca, the Tusken Raiders, Stormtroopers, and even the Sith Lord himself, Darth Vader. Nigo collaborated again with Star Wars when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was released in 2019. This featured Baby Milo alongside characters like Kylo Ren, and BB-8.
Carhartt
In 2006, Bape and Carhartt collaborated to create some warm jackets for the winter time. These classic Carhartt hooded jackets came in three Bape camo colorways including black, red and purple. The collection also featured some hats with the Bape camo along with the Carhartt logo on the front. This collaboration was interesting for the fact that a workwear brand that focused on warm and durable clothing incorporated designs from a high-end lifestyle brand. This collection will definitley keep you warm while also keeping you stylish.
