A Bathing Ape (BAPE) was founded in 1993. That was the year when founder Tomoaki Nagao (Nigo) opened a shop in the world-renown fashion district Ura-Harajuku called NOWHERE in partnership with Undercover founder Jun Takahashi. Both attended Bunka Fashion College which Nigo credits as having done “zero” for him other than giving him that chance to meet Takahashi. The pair also had help from the “Godfather of Harajuku” Hiroshi Fujiwara. He used his experience and clout to ensure NOWHERE’s success upon opening. Nigo would go on to design with Fujiwara throughout his career, earning the nickname “Nigo” as a result which means Number 2. As some may now know, Nigo’s inspiration for calling the brand what he did was some tongue-in-cheek humor at the expense of his target demographic. In Japanese, the phrase “a bathing ape in lukewarm water” describes youth who lead complacent and sheltered lives, whose only concerns deal with passing midterms and making it into prestigious institutes of higher education. The name thus naturally begs the primate thematic, which Nigo credits to his love of science fiction and primarily The Planet of the Apes franchise.