Two Titans of Japanese Streetwear Finally Meet on a Sneaker Two Decades Too Late
I love COMME des GARÇONS. I respect the legacy of BAPE. So, that BAPE and COMME des GARÇONS co-created a sneaker ought to light up the Japanese streetwear nerd in me.
But nay. Too little, too late, I say.
Now, the timing actually makes sense. The collaborative COMME des GARÇONS-branded BAPE sneakers are releasing in late April as part of a capsule that commemorates the fifth anniversary of the BAPE store housed within COMME des GARÇONS' Osaka flagship, which is itself such a bizarre thing.
Like, the idea that there's a designated nook for BAPE hoodies mere feet away from the wonderful weirdness of CdG mainline and the rugged good looks of Junya Watanabe's menswear still hasn't totally sunk in for me.
But, clearly, it works.
Here we are five years after it launched and the COMME des GARÇONS BAPE store is clearly still hitting.
The other collaborative product on hand here is your typical CDG x BAPE shenanigans, looking mostly like the sort of simple cobranded stuff inherent to COMME des GARÇONS' youthful sub-labels (because, yes, CDG is different from PLAY CDG which is different from COMME des GARÇONS HOMME PLUS HOMME which is different from COMME des GARÇONS HOMME PLUS. Very confusing to the uninitiated.).
However, the CdG x BAPE shoes intrigue me. Stylistically, they recall the three-way Supreme x Nike x CdG Shirt (another sub-label) Air Force 1 sneakers, an indelible cornerstone of a certain long-gone streetwear era. Back when Vetements shirts were the new hotness, these things were peak.
But the COMME des GARÇONS x BAPE shoe is just that: A shoe. The streetwear Overton window has shifted so far from where it once was that even something as overtly intriguing as this collab hits like just any ordinary drop in life's infinite scroll.
A decade ago, these things would be received like a landmark moment in streetwear crossovers, two titans of industry meeting up in a surprise one-off. Two decades ago, the CdG x BAPE shoes would be treated like an archival grail on the level of Raf Simons' otherwise quite quotidian Vans.
I'm sure the folks who're still buying BAPE consider it "more better late than never" than "too little, too late." And that's fine. I still find these things fascinating on an anthropological level alone. But it must be said that broader streetwear culture has since moved on.
