Back when Damian Lillard was in high school, he wanted to buy a hooded sweatshirt from popular -- and pricey -- Japanese streetwear company A Bathing Ape.
"I looked it up, and I was like, 'Yeah, I can't afford that,'" he said, laughing.
Now, the three-time All-Star can afford anything the company cheap bape shoes offers, but he's thinking bigger, working with the brand on a trio of limited edition versions of his Adidas signature sneaker.
"I love the fact that as soon as people see it, they're going to recognize what the collab is," Lillard said.
The brand, launched in 1993 by a Japanese streetwear pioneer known simply as Nigo, rose to popularity through the early 2000s while still only available at stores in Japan. Seen on the likes of musicians Pharrell Williams, Lil Wayne and Kanye West, the brand's signature camouflage pattern was soon spotted in music videos and at awards shows on the industry's most influential artists and celebrities.
"I've always been a huge fan of Bape, going back to when I was in high school and Lil Wayne was rocking Bape heavy," Lillard said. "I was a huge Wayne fan, and Juelz Santana. I just remember all their videos and artwork for their music, they always had Bape on."
The company name itself, long truncated to just "Bape," has always been a bit of a lost-in-translation phrase. Incorporating Nigo's love for 20th century pop culture, the name partly references the 1968 movie "Planet of the Apes." The tagline was also cheap bape shirts originally meant to serve as a commentary on a generation that overindulges, referencing the Japanese idiom "A bathing ape in lukewarm water," poking fun at someone who complacently overextends themselves.
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