decrypt.co
The Bored Ape Yacht Club may be collaborating with another Ape-themed brand from the fashion world—Japanese streetwear icon BAPE, or A Bathing Ape.
That’s according to a tweet from the official Bored Ape Yacht Club account today, showing a cartoonish drawing of a t-shirt in a closet with both BAPE and Bored Ape imagery on it. “Been a fan since way back when,” the tweet reads.
The official BAPE account then quote-tweeted it, adding “Apes Together Strong”—a common phrase used by Bored Ape NFT holders. The official account for the Bapetaverse NFT project also quote-tweeted it with the same phrase.
Apes Together Strong. https://t.co/ZD0qaQ2nP1
— BAPE.COM (@BAPEOFFICIAL) September 25, 2023
No further details have been released as of this writing. Decrypt’s SCENE reached out to Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs for further details, but it had nothing to add at this time.
Founded by fashion designer and entrepreneur Tomoaki “Nigo” Nagao in 1993, A Bathing Ape is a prominent streetwear brand that has done a vast array of collaborations with various brands and creators, ranging from Marvel and Nintendo to Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, and beyond.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club is arguably the most prominent IP to come out of the NFT market, generating nearly $3 billion in trading volume for the main collection to date, per data from CryptoSlam, along with about $4 billion more from spinoff and subsequent collections.
Yuga Labs has done official collaborations with storied fashion brands like Adidas and Gucci, while NFT holders—including rappers Snoop Dogg and Eminem—have used their owned Bored Ape artwork to create merchandise and derivative projects via IP commercialization rights.