$80 - $100 for screen printed 100% cotton t shirts is not like most products. For a street wear brand that is expensive. Bape has done some good marketing that's forsure.
The cost of him printing shirts is pennies. I own a street wear company and I know what it costs to create a t shirt, it's even cheaper overseas where labor costs is low. Bape was a lifestyle brand in japan and still is to an extent. It was bigger than t-shirts with nigo. He had bape radio, tv, he was a huge dj in japan, produced and created the japanese hip hop sensation teriyaki boys, designed for bbd and ice-cream he even made household goods... even condoms. Not defending him saying he should go down in history but his impact on the culture was a lot more important than ed hardy who was ran by christian audigier and just printed ed hardy tattoos across shirts, which became a one hit wonder like von dutch brand was.
Nigo was a lot bigger and more important to the street wear culture.
Bape was what ralph lauren polo is. None the less.... that chain was a big piece of history in the jewelry world and the street wear world, but he was even bigger in Japan.