(In italiano qui…)
Nigo: The Japanese designer who made his business out of monkeys.
Nigo is young at 32, a DJ, a producer, a drummer and a fashion designer. He’s also made a fortune from his Japanese clothing brand: A Bathing Ape® (which is apparently a common Japanese expression for “bathing in lukewarm water”, a term describing the comfy and well-off lifestyle of today’s youngsters in Tokyo.) Since he started ten years ago, he has transformed the people of Tokyo into monkey maniacs. All over the city Simian images now appear on T-shirts, caps, trousers, accessories, consumable goods (most notably Pepsi cans) and more. Through twenty five outlets, a hair salon, a café, a members-only store in Hong Kong, a brand new boutique in London and millions of Japanese that would do anything to have his monkey printed on whatever they can get their hands on, Nigo has dominated the underground street-wear scene of the densely populated Tokyo. He is now set to conquer the US and “maybe” Europe.
How did a 22 year old manage to forge all this from nothing? Through age-old marketing tactics: exclusivity and hard-to-find garments. And in Japan this approach proves more fruitful than in any other country.
When we went to his house to meet him we were unprepared for the spectacle we were to find. It is truly a dream house, too extravagant for even the highest budget Bond movie. You find super-cars that emerge from a wooden-floored garage on high-technology car-handling robots; a room full of dolls, decorated with personalized Gucci wall-paper; from one room to another you find every Star Wars character, life-sized, Andy Warhol paintings, an amazing selection of toys and mysterious memorabilia – he alone knows where they all come from. We recovered, took some shots then asked him a few questions.
Very introverted and reserved, Nigo answers in tight Japanese slang (hard to grasp, even for the Japanese translator). After spending two days beside Hide, who helped us decipher his speech, here is what Nigo had to say:

When did you start developing an interest in fashion?
At 12 my parents bought me a pair of Levi 501’s and some white Adidas Superstar sneakers. At the time I wasn’t too bothered, but later I discovered a magazine called Popeye & Olive. One day I read an article about Tokyo and they spoke about the best shopping areas. From there I developed an interested in 50’s fashion and music, which at the time was very trendy in Tokyo. I liked Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. At the same time a Japanese band called the “Checkers” broke through; I liked the way they dressed, Rockabilly style; but until 18 I used to always wear denims and white sneakers.

Photo © Becky Yee for Pig magazine

After 18, what trends did you follow?
When I turned 18 I discovered Run DMC. I was wearing my Superstars, just like them, and thanks to them I got into Hip-Hop. I liked the Tokyo bands, and would dress like most of them with “Bontage” trousers (Scottish-Punk), a Vivienne Westwood style. I’d mix American styles into European all the time. I used to go to Tokyo at week-ends to see the Vivienne Westwood store in Ameyoko (a district of Tokyo). I also used to go to Harajuku where there was a store called Astoarobot – a classic underground fashion shop where you could find Punk and Teddy Boy stuff.
I was so keen, that every weekend I used to commute all the way from my house (in the outskirts) to Tokyo to see what was new. I loved what the shop assistants wore, with their worn denims and T-shirts, “Engineer” boots (biker’s boots like Red Wing) and Indian jewellery by Goros. That was my favourite style.

So, aside from fashion, did music influence the trends you followed?
At 16 I got into DJ culture. One day I when into Akihabara (a district of Tokyo famous for computers and electronics). I wanted to get some DJ decks, but they were too expensive. I couldn’t buy two so instead I got one. I went home, linked it to my hi-fi and taught myself to mix.

When did you move into the centre of Tokyo? After school?
Yeh, I moved when I was 18. I wanted to become a fashion journalist. I enrolled in a fashion college wanting to specialise in fashion editing. That’s where I met Jonio, the designer who started the Undercover brand. Jonio introduced me to a lot of influential people like Hiroshi Fujiwarea, DJ and designer for Head Porter. And the MD of Astoarobot, the fashion store, who thought I looked just like Hiroshi so he started calling me “Nigo”, it’s a Japanese word for “number two”. I didn’t go to school very much. I used to go clubbing with them every night. I felt lucky just to know them and they turned out to be crucial for my future.

What were you planning to do after college?
I wanted to live in Tokyo. I found a part time job in the Popeye & Olive editorial office. They put me in charge of a part of the magazine and I was earning very well. Japan was going through a strong economic period and people were doing well in every sector. I was well paid so I didn’t have any problem finding somewhere to live in town. Then I met a girl called Hitomi Oukawa at Popeye & Olive and she gave me a job as a stylist. At the same time Jonio and I were looking after a section of the magazine on fads and underground sub-culture. It was at that time (’92) that Jonio said to me: “why don’t we open a shop with exclusive clothes?” So on the first of April ’93 we opened a shop in Harajuku. We called it “Nowhere”. Two times a month I would set about sourcing garments for the shop. It became a store where friends came to hang out – we didn’t really look after the customers coming through the door, but we were selling well anyway. (He laughs.) Shortly afterwards, Jonio and I felt the bought-in garments weren’t selling enough, so Jonio said: “Let’s stop buying garments from other brands and create our own.”

A Bathing Ape®. Where does the name come from?
I was spending my evenings with my friend Shin, when one evening we were watching a TV program called “Yo!! Rap City”, I told Shin that I was going to start a clothing line. Shin suggested we start it together. We thought more about it and one night we saw a movie called “Planet of the Apes”. We liked it a lot. So much in fact, the next day we met up and decided to take some inspiration from it: we called our new brand A Bathing Ape®. Shin was good mates with Kuyamada, the lead singer of a famous band called Cornelias. We gave him a T-shirt to wear at his gigs and he did, so more and more people started to get to know our stuff. At the time we used to produce about 30 T-shirts a batch. We’d give half to friends and we’d sell the other half. We carried on like that for two years, producing very few of them, giving away half and selling half.

Photo © Becky Yee for Pig magazine

At the time Futura and Stash created garments with you. Was this the first partnership you were involved in?
One day Futura marched straight into our office and said “I want one of your jackets.” Then, one month later, Stash appeared too. He came in, gave us a drawing and told us we could make a T-shirt with it if we wanted. Shin and I were really excited. We’d already spoken about partnerships in the past, and when I’d discussed it previously with Shin we had already considered them because we liked their stuff. After the initial meetings we became friends and decided to open another shop together called Nowhere Limited, which would sell their T-shirts as well as ours.

These days you appear in all these fashion magazines and the editors of top publications all use your garments for reports. You’re very famous. What do you make of it all?
We’re very concerned about the position of the brand. A lot of our friends who went into fashion or opened shops have closed down. These days everyone has a Macintosh and anyone can produce T-shirts. That’s why we decided to diversify, doing stuff like getting into exhibitions.

There are many well-known street brands in Japan. Why do you think Bape® is the number one?
In 2000 we did some work with Pepsi Cola. It was our biggest project at the time. We were both very happy about the deal. They welcomed my ideas and I listened to theirs. When Pepsi cans started appearing with my mimetic design applied to them it was unbelievable. I was so happy. I had no idea they’d be that successful. After that Pepsi asked me to join a project working on their cola bottles with various other brands but I refused. I didn’t like the idea of my brand being mixed in with the others. Anyway, these days partnerships with other brands are everywhere, but we were the first ones to do it. People nowadays don’t get it. They don’t understand the real reason behind a brand partnership.

You opened a hair salon, a café and an art gallery. Why not just garments?
It’s my lifestyle. I don’t want to do just garments. I don’t want to have a clothing company – I want to have a lifestyle company. It’s very simple. I wanted a comfortable lifestyle. Now I have that lifestyle and I have everything I want.
But here in Japan some people bad-mouth A Bathing Ape® because it diversified. This doesn’t happen outside Japan, so within five or ten years I want to be successful abroad too. That way no one will dis me here any more.

Photo © Becky Yee for Pig magazine

In 2003 you had your tenth anniversary. I hear that in the New Year you’ll be opening in the US. It this true? What will you be doing?
I’m having a jewel made in a jewellery store called Jacob the Jeweller in New York. Loads of celebrities go there like Jay-Z, Mariah Carey and Pharrell (N.E.R.D.). Their pictures are on the walls of the store and mine too now. Some people are curious and ask who the guy is in my picture – and that’s how Pharrell and I met. And Jay-Z wears my sneakers at concerts. Anyway, we became mates. Pharrell told me that he wanted to create a clothing line, so together we created the Billionaire Boys Club (BBC) brand like Louis Vuitton did with Marc Jacobs. Pharrell is the designer and it’s good publicity for me.
As well as BBC, DUB magazine (a top men’s lifestyle magazine in the US) put me on their front page so many artists got to know me and started wearing my sneakers. Even a song by Jay-Z talks about “Ape Kicks”. America’s a massive opportunity for me.

Are you considering Europe? Will you open over here?
I’ve already gone to London. I also opened something in Italy, but I think Europe is a difficult market. There isn’t a proper street-wear culture. America influences everything, but I wonder what people in Europe would think about it. I love Gucci and the clothing resulting from the partnership between Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs. It’s all very intriguing, but for now I’d rather concentrate on America.

You also are a famous collector, from Star Wars to Planet of the Apes, from Vuitton to Eames and Warhol.
I love collecting. I love Charles Eames’s vintage furniture. I have the real Star Wars sword and lots of life-sized characters from Star Wars and Planet of the Apes. The original ones! They have to be originals and in excellent condition. I also collect American detergents. I’ve been like this ever since I was a child. It’s in my blood. When I find something new and interesting, I drop the last collection and start a new one. This happens when I sketch garments too. Right now I’m into Versace furniture. It’s very rare in Japan and not very well known. It’s nice – makes me feel very cool.

What is Nigo’s future at A Bathing Ape®?
Opening the store in New York and transferring over the image the brand has in Tokyo. It’ll be a shop kids won’t be able to afford that easily – not like the shops in shopping centres. Ape is high quality. Our sneakers can cost up to $450 US. These days the US is a bit like Tokyo was a few years ago. I tell you, ten years ago in Tokyo people used to queue up in front of shops to buy Nikes. That’s what it’s like now in the states. I’m really curious to see what things will be like in the US in another ten years time.
There are other things too. Pharrell and I are about to open a shop selling the BBC brand. This will make two shops over there, though the BBC one will have more of a “Pharrell” imprint. I’ve learned a lot from him and he’s given me a lot of new ideas. I often create shapes and fabrics based on what he does. I’m really happy but we’ll see how it works out. Personally, I’m positive about it. I’m very lucky (he laughs) and when I look to the future I still see street-wear. If this is the way fashion goes, then A Bathing Ape® will do well and though I haven’t really given it much thought yet, there is a chance of coming into Europe too.

Photo © Becky Yee for Pig magazine

Photo © Becky Yee for Pig magazine

Originally Published on
Pig magazine, September 2004

Photography by Becky Yee
Interview by Takashi Suzuki
Make up by Rumi Suwabe
Production and coordination by Yumi Kunimoto at Commune Ltd
All garments by A Bathing Ape
Jewellery by Jacob the Jeweller
Translation by Alessandra Sturani & Greg Harvey

Following are pics from his various retail stores and cafè: