Last week it was announced that Hong Kong-based retail company had bought A Bathing Ape (Bape) and other brands belonging to the Japanese company called Nowhere. The transaction shocked many in the fashion world because of its price – a scant $2.8 million, which is just a tiny fraction of Nowhere’s annual sales. In an exclusive interview with WWD, Bape founder Nigo finally opened up about why he decided to sell and what went wrong. Here’s an excerpt from the story:
“The company itself wasn’t in a very dire situation, but in the end I spent so much time looking after the management side that I wasn’t really able to do design,” he told WWD during an interview at his personal atelier, packed with what is only a portion of his extensive collection of vintage toys, art, pop culture artifacts and designer furniture. A statue of Colonel Sanders greets visitors at the entrance, and the space downstairs houses no less than a vintage Coca-Cola vending machine, a jukebox, a giant Apple Computer logo sign in neon lights and a series of paintings by New York-based artist Kaws featuring the Simpsons characters with missing eyes.
“Basically, I can’t do business. I’m not suited for it. I wish I had had a partner on the business side from the beginning,” said a surprisingly upbeat Nigo, whose real name is Tomoaki Nagao. The music and fashion impresario said he always thought he would sell the company he incorporated in 1995.
Whether or not he always planned on selling, the price still seems pretty surprising – perhaps to everyone except Nigo himself – and since Nowhere was a privately held company, the rest of us may never know just how badly off Bape was before I.T.
The end of the article mentions that Nigo plans to continue working with I.T as Bape’s creative director for a long time – beyond his initial contract period of two years. It looks like the world hasn’t seen the last of Nigo just yet.
