Bape T-Shirt: How to Spot a Counterfeit?

A Bathing Ape, otherwise known as BAPE, has been making its mark on the luxury urban clothing market for years. This Japanese brand has become a benchmark in urban fashion. With designs as elaborate as each other, the brand has conquered the world, establishing itself in the most influential countries. You can find Bape stores just about anywhere in the world. Among the brand's best-known garments, the entire T-shirt range has been a huge success. This popularity has not escaped the attention of counterfeiters, who have been quick to reproduce these T-shirts. However, there are differences between a counterfeit Bape T-shirt and a genuine Bape T-shirt. In this article, we'll take a look at some of them.

The monkey print:

First of all, take a close look at the monkey logo print on the front of the Bape T-shirt. The original print is very detailed and crisp, which is not the case with replica t-shirts where the printing is sloppy, with multiple flaws visible to the naked eye.

You'll notice that a counterfeit Bape T-shirt also has a much rounder print than the real thing. It is also often smaller.

The sloppiness of the replica factories can be seen not only on the outline of the print, but also on the inside, and in particular on the monkey's mouth. In fact, the shape of the monkey's mouth is much thicker on a fake T-shirt from the luxury brand.

On the left, an authentic Bape print, on the right, the same print but counterfeit.

Sleeve label :

You should also look carefully at the small label on the sleeve of your T-shirt. This differs between a real T-shirt from the Japanese brand and a fake one, making it interesting to observe.

The monkey on this label should be brown. Counterfeiters regularly reproduce it in red tones. It is often purple or dark red. The monkey is also larger on a real label than on a fake one.

The small 'R' at the bottom right of the label is also poorly reproduced by counterfeiters, who make it too thick. This small letter should be thin and slightly pale.

Want to find out more about the authenticity of designer clothing? Check out these articles: the Canada Goose down jacket, the Off-White jumper or the Louis Vuitton jumper.

Collar label :

Let's move on to the collar label. It shows the size, the brand name and a drawing with the word 'BAPE' written on it.

It's worth taking a close look at the colours of this label. An original collar label is made with very bright colours, whether yellow, green or red. The colours of a replica label are more washed-out, darker.

The two black lines framing the label print are thicker on a real T-shirt from the brand.

Also check the spacing, which is usually overlooked by replica factories. The spaces on both sides of the label should be similar. It's a simple way to see if you're looking at an authentic T-shirt or not.

Above, the original Tape collar label.

Seams :

Last but not least is the stitching. The seams are always interesting to analyse when approving the authenticity of a luxury item. Counterfeit factories, in the interests of time and profit, neglect the seams. They also don't have the same know-how as the big luxury brands. It is therefore not uncommon to find errors on these products.

If you see visible protruding threads or irregular seams, you can be sure you're dealing with a counterfeit.

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