I remember visiting Hit and Run back in 99 for the first time and seeing the most amazing jacket ever,. They were alas both small and insanely expensive. Ten years later my search is at an end with the duck camo gore snowboard jacket now on my hanger. I am probably far too old for it but I love it so much I just don’t care.
During those ten years BAPE has undergone what has seemed several paradigm shifts in its marketing and brand image. The negativity that it has attracted has always bemused me, but not detracted my interest for what it does. For those that have ever been into what the brand does the musicians Nigo has aligned himself with along the way serve as markers for where people have joined (and left) the ride. I will be forever in that Mo'Wax period, like a teddy boy stuck in a time warp, in spirit (if not in body).
For the record, BAPE fan sites first appeared in about 99/00 with many of the show and tell variety, most if not all have now gone. The appearance online largely correlated with the first incarnation of the HK store, when it was members and by appointment only. Subsequent sites sprung up from HK fans. The english language sites that covered the brand were mostly the forums on the Mo'Wax and FUK, sites until the Bapesta was released and Niketalk started to froth with apoplexy.
