BAPE’s Best Collaborations

The Best BAPE Collabs

Few, if any, brands can take the same sort of credit that BAPE can when it comes to catapulting streetwear into the limelight of mainstream fashion.

The Japanese-born label has forged an unmistakable name for itself since launching in 1993, a legacy that owes a whole lot to a string of incredibly savvy and high-profile collaborations. 

From musicians to household TV shows, the folks at BAPE have enlisted the help of a seemingly endless list of notable entities down the years, delivering an eclectic mix of showstopping link-ups that have ensured the brand’s popularity has never threatened to fade. Keep reading for our list of the best BAPE collabs to date.

BAPE x Coach

Sprinkling a little sophistication on proceedings, American luxe house Coach lent its name to a range that spanned premium shirts, hoodies, footwear and accessories.

Familiar faces like Megan Thee Stallion and Cordae fronted the summer 2021 campaign, which seamlessly blends Coach’s famous insignia and the iconic APE HEAD.

BAPE x Levi’s

Calling Levi’s a global powerhouse still feels like we’d be selling them a little short, so when BAPE went to work with the famous red label at the beginning of the year, it garnered plenty of understandable excitement.

Some striking remixes of the staple trucker jacket make for two of the capsule’s standout pieces, which feature alongside an updated take on Levi’s signature 501 ’93s—the brand’s original straight-fit jeans that helped put them on the map.

BAPE x Kid Cudi

Kid Cudi’s affinity with BAPE has been very well-documented, stemming back to the rapper actually working at the New York store prior to the release of his acclaimed 2009 record, Man on the Moon.

Only natural then that the brand would team up with Cudi to produce one of its biggest collaboration collections to date. Featuring 20 items bathed in entergalactic-themed camo and stamped with Moon Man motifs, vibrancy was a clear focal point when both parties hit the drawing board.

BAPE x New Balance

When two brands with such an impressive reputation for noteworthy collabs come together, the expectations run the risk of becoming difficult to live up to. However, any concerns that anyone may have held in the back of their minds were quickly dispelled.

Two wild takes on NB’s ever-popular 2002R are no doubt the highlights of the drop, both incorporating BAPE’s shark teeth print on the heels, along with the familiar camouflage so synonymous with the Tokyo veterans.

BAPE x Swatch

Bold, instantly-recognisable streetwear met a stalwart of the timekeeping industry when BAPE and Swatch came together.

The brands have worked together on two separate occasions now, with both releases delivering a dazzling array of big, brash aesthetics capable of complementing and completing just about any outfit.

BAPE x Kanye West

It doesn’t really get much bigger than drafting in Kanye, does it? Now possessing serious grail status, BAPE’s 2007 flagship silhouette celebrated West’s seminal record, A College Dropout, with a colourway inspired by the famous album cover, complete with bear mascot on the heel. 

While this particular drop might not be the most high-profile of Ye’s footwear work, more than a decade on from its original release, it has become gold dust among the sneaker community. 

BAPE x adidas

adidas’ quintessential Superstar silhouette is certainly no stranger when it comes to collaborations. Celebrating its 50th anniversary earlier this year, the shoe got the camo treatment from A Bathing Ape.

Trading one set of the usual three stripes for the BAPE shooting star motif, the Spring drop marked the latest in a long line of mashups between the two colossuses of the fashion world, and we can pretty confidently predict it won’t be the last either.

BAPE X The Simpsons

Tapping into probably the most iconic, beloved cartoon of all time is a surefire way to reach a vast new audience—unsurprisingly the move proved to be another masterstroke by the Japanese brand’s creative team. 

The Baby Milo collection features charming animations of everyone’s favourite family spread across tees, varsity jackets, snapbacks and even a BAPE-branded baby bib. 

BAPE x Disney

In a similar fashion to The Simpsons release, BAPE turned once more to a behemoth of popular culture, this time with none other than Disney. 

Producing a limited run of graphic tees, one of numerous popular hookups between the two, The House of Mouse’s mascot is draped in camo for a simple, yet incredibly effective capsule that went down a treat once more.