Portfolio has an interview this month with the relatively elusive Nigo, founder of cult Sino-Californian label, Bathing Ape. In it, he talks about the challenge of keeping his small, exclusive business small and exclusive - coping with the fact that it has now become a $57 million global company and superbrand.
He also talks about the how fakes have taken the lustre off the brand and have meant that its reputation for small-run, closely curated collections has been dented.
How does a brand that has courted (and is worn by) the likes of Ludacris, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, and Pharrell Williams, amongst others, manage to maintain a small-company mentality and image while at the same time it is being dragged onto a global, superbrand stage?
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