The Norwegian Vote

Quote:

Milspex, Norwegian boy is right. Apee is a new female line from BAPE for fall 2005. And *gasp* there will be ApeeXKaws collabs. IMHO, bape is really boring and passe now. In general the entire Harajuku look seems to be losing influence. And no I have never owned any Bape clothing. I've been more facinated with his business model than anything else. The only reason Nigo opened stores in SoHo and Taipei, etc., was because his gross revenue point in his homeland has been steadily declining for the last couple years.

--- Original message by djrajio on Nov 4, 2005 03:41 AM

I think the ApeeXKaws collabo is out already. There were some pictures in the september issue of Mini, I think. But I might be wrong.

The business model is indeed very fascinating. I mean, most of modern luxury brands, whether it's jeans brands or street fashion, are mostly based on hype. Hype is maybe the most important factor to have success with a brand nowadays - apart from having a decent line of products - and A Bathing Ape are amongst the best when it comes to hype, and to maintain interest and renew interest by doing sought after collaborations and hyping these collabos at the right places. It's a fine balance; to keep widening your consumer group while at the same time not alienating the consumers you already have.

æLÆn

If there aren't any dumb questions, does stupid people get smart just in time to ask a question?

@MilSpex: Apee and Bapy are the women's lines, launched in august. Apee are mostly men's styles in women sizes, and bapy are more feminine styles. Apee and Bapy are only available in japan for fw05.

@witts: I would think that most people here are early adopters. There might be innovators here as well, but my feeling is that people on this board are into brands, and innovators are rarely interested in newer brands unless it's their own.

If there aren't any dumb questions, does stupid people get smart just in time to ask a question?

How much have you used them? They'll stretch, but it could take longer than what you feel like having to put up with...

If there aren't any dumb questions, does stupid people get smart just in time to ask a question?

Quite interesting discussion, really... People often like to wear brands because they want to show who they are, what they are, and what kind of people they would like to compare themselves to, or what kind of people they don't wish to be like. This is basic profiling of product adopters - going from innovators who are very self-conscious and want to distinguish themselves from the common herd, to early adopters who often are leaders in social settings, to the early majority who are deliberate and have many informal contacts, to the late majority, and to laggards who are driven by fear and adopt fashion not because they want to stand out, but because they are afraid of standing out.

Bape isn't superexclusive, but it's by no means a large brand neither. I think people that wear bape/bapy/apee generally have a well above normal interest for clothing, and I think a lot of the bape stuff is well designed, good quality and quite original. For some consumers this is not enough. Often it seems like some consumers wear brands, and stop wearing brands, mostly because they want to disassociate themselves from the early majority of consumers - and thereby be in a position where they can knock on people who catched interest of a brand later than they did. It must be quite draining...to have such cool and fresh stuff that you can hardly walk on your feet, and then you have to throw it away as soon as somebody else starts wearing it. =)

And when it comes to the joshikosei in Tokyo and their boyfriends, it seems they are all driven by a constant need to reinvent trends (atarashi zuki?), so saying that something is not "in" at the moment in uraharajuku, daikanyama, shibuya or ebisu doesn't really say all that much. The more creative youth cultures in Tokyo are perhaps the least brand loyal consumers in the entire world - at least when it comes to newer brands. However, many of them look to japanese celebrities for inspiration, and many of the japanese pop idols look to western celebrities so....it all goes round in circle, I suppose.

æLÆn

If there aren't any dumb questions, does stupid people get smart just in time to ask a question?

If I was to make a wild guess, I would guess that it had something to do with bright colors..? Or maybe that the brand has a sense of fashion when it comes to how the clothes fit, but if those are the criteria for making a brand gay then there's a whole lot of gay brands out there. Good thing I'm not homophobic... *phew*

If there aren't any dumb questions, does stupid people get smart just in time to ask a question?

If you were to call a brand "swedish Diesel" than that would have to be Lindeberg. But that's not too strange considering that Johan Lindeberg, the founder, was a Diesel designer for many years.

I'm not quite sure what makes a brand gay, but I'm sure you can give me a hint or two...?

If there aren't any dumb questions, does stupid people get smart just in time to ask a question?

Hmm...are you sure? Don't most premium jeans brands sanforize the jeans anyway? I was under the impression that unsanforized jeans would shrink anyways when washed at home even though they are washed in industrial laundries? I suppose I could be wrong about that one, but I do know that at least a lot of the premium jeans brands sanforize jeans.

æLÆn

If there aren't any dumb questions, does stupid people get smart just in time to ask a question?

Hi!

I read a post yesterday where you were wondering if any Levi's has painted arcs, but I couldn't find the thread...

Levi's Europe has three premium lines: Levi's Blue, Vintage and Levi's Red. Levi's Red has had painted arcs the last two seasons (this spring and last fall), you can check them out on the european Levi's site. These models also have a very unusual selvage where there is approximately 4" of extra cloth on both sides that are folded and stitched together - so on the outer side of the leg you have a double layer of denim. I dunno if that made any sense but I suppose I can get hold of a digital camera and send you pics if you'd like.

æLÆn

If there aren't any dumb questions, does stupid people get smart just in time to ask a question?

As Ringring writes, sanforization is a mechanical process to shrink the jeans where the cloth go through huge rubber cylinders, and the cloth is then fixated to keep the shrinked form. Nearly all jeans are sanforized except shrink-to-fit jeans. The sanforizing process does not affect the color or any other aspect of the denim.

If there aren't any dumb questions, does stupid people get smart just in time to ask a question?

My last three? Ehm....well, I'm wearing a Rock & Republic jeans I bought at Atrium in January. I didn't bother to get the name of the model since I altered it to get rid of the bootcut anyways. Yesterday I wore the Straight Fit off the european Levi's Red collection which is one of my all-time favorite jeans. And on Monday I wore DeeDee from Tsubi, so it's:

Rock & Republic

Levi's Red Europe

Tsubi

If there aren't any dumb questions, does stupid people get smart just in time to ask a question?

Tiger Jeans are releasing a line called Imperial Denim this fall sewn on shuttle looms. The models are Swords, Silver and Skogsberg. Apart from that Diesel has quite a few washes sewn on shuttle looms, so does the Lean model from Tsubi. There's actually a lot out there, it depends more on what kind of fit you want - do you like them slim? Bootcut? Low or normal waist? Low rise?

If there aren't any dumb questions, does stupid people get smart just in time to ask a question?

We is not merely a brand that has roots in skateboarding and snowboarding. The founders ran one of the best sneakers stores in Sweden before he went on to We. I suppose We is about a big crowd of creative people from both skateboarding, snowboarding, art, music, drama...or at least that's how they like to view themselves - as one big happy family. They describe their collection as "after-skate" (not after-ski...), and view themselves as a brand for relaxed people who like streetwear. Their collection is divided into basic and fashion, and on the fashion part of the collection you can find anything from the most classy and sexy dresses which might as well could be from Costume National or Versace, to the clothes that have a more apparent skateboarding and streetwear-vibe to them.

They're selling the Marc Jacobs Vans at www.sneakerking.de. They have Sk-8 Hi (2 styles), Classic Slip on (5 styles), Old Skool LX (2 styles), Authentic (2 styles) and Chukka Boot (2 styles). They're running out of sizes quick, though. It's the only place I've seen them online...

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