Rakuten to Power Fashion Show for “A BATHING APE®” Through the “by R” Project to Support Japanese Fashion Labels

Official site: https://brandavenue.rakuten.co.jp/contents/fashionweek/

Tokyo, July 25, 2023 – Rakuten Group, Inc. today announced that it will support the fashion show for the brand “A BATHING APE®” (“BAPE®”) during Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO 2024 S/S, scheduled for August 28 to September 2, 2023, through the “by R” project to support Japanese fashion brands^*1. Footage of the fashion show, “A BATHING APE® SPRING / SUMMER 2024 RUNWAY SHOW by R,” will be live-streamed free of charge on Rakuten Fashion, the fashion e-commerce site operated by Rakuten^*2.   

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, BAPE® is a brand renowned not only in Japan but across the globe. Rakuten aims to broaden the appeal of BAPE® to even more fans while further amplifying awareness of Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO, by holding a BAPE® fashion show for the first time in Tokyo – the brand’s birthplace – and by live streaming the show across the world. To commemorate the participation of BAPE® in “by R,” Rakuten is also planning to offer limited-edition merchandise through Rakuten Fashion.

Rakuten partnered with the Japan Fashion Week Organization to become the headline sponsor for TOKYO Fashion Week in August 2019 and the event was renamed Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO. In September 2020, Rakuten established the “by R” project with the goal of broadening the horizons of talented designers in Japan and showcasing the country’s designer fashion to the world.

Rakuten will continue to empower and contribute to the development of the fashion industry in Japan.

*1 The fashion show is scheduled for Thursday, August 31, 2023.
*2 The fashion show will be live-streamed not only in Japan but also globally, through the Rakuten Fashion official website’s desktop and mobile versions. Please see the official “by R” website for more details:
https://brandavenue.rakuten.co.jp/contents/fashionweek/ (Japanese website)

Official site: https://brandavenue.rakuten.co.jp/contents/fashionweek/
Outline: Support for the planning and implementation of the fashion shows staged during Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO 2024 S/S.
Feature brand: A BATHING APE®
Schedule: 7 p.m. on Thursday, August 31, 2023 (JST)

Official site: https://bape.com/　
Rakuten Fashion Brand page: https://brandavenue.rakuten.co.jp/ba/shop-abathingape (Japanese website)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bape_japan/
Situated in the heart of Tokyo, one of the leading fashion hubs of the world, Nowhere Co., Ltd. strives to introduce Japanese fashion culture to the world. Since the brand's establishment in 1993, it has remained as a symbol of street fashion for more than 30 years. Thus far, it has produced iconic design items, original patterns, and characters such as "APE HEAD," "BAPE® CAMO," "BAPE STA™," "SHARK HOODIE," and "BABY MILO®," etc. It has now expanded into Men’s, Ladies and Kids lines, and is carried throughout stores in Japan and also sold in the U.S., UK, France, China and various Asian countries. It has also created successful collaborations with established international brands and reputable artists. These collaborations are recognized as being genre-less and flexible, not limited to fashion and apparel categories only.

“A BATHING APE®︎ was born in 1993 and thanks to our many supporters, we are celebrating our 30th anniversary this year. We are truly grateful to be invited to participate in “by R” in this milestone year for the brand and to hold our BAPE®︎ runway show for the first time in Japan. We wish “by R” all the best for the further development of Tokyo Fashion Week, and we would be honored if our show could make some contribution to the event.”

Official site: https://rakutenfashionweektokyo.com/jp/
Dates: Monday, August 28 to Saturday, September 2, 2023
Features: Fashion shows, installations, video announcements
Season: 2024 spring/summer collection
Participating brands: 50 brands (49 brands, and one brand from “by R”) as of Tuesday, July 25, 2023

https://brandavenue.rakuten.co.jp
Rakuten Fashion is an online fashion shopping site made up of popular fashion brand shops. To promote and offer luxury brand and designer brand products, Rakuten launched Rakuten Fashion Luxury in October 2020, DESIGNERS & INTERNATIONAL in November 2020, and Rakuten Fashion COSMETICS in March 2022 on Rakuten Fashion. Users can earn and spend Rakuten Points, Rakuten’s flagship loyalty program, when paying for products. Rakuten Fashion also offers a dedicated smartphone app.

iOS app: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1495930546
*iOS is a trademark or registered trademark of Cisco in the U.S. and other countries and is used under license.

Android™ app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.rakuten.fashionAndroid*
Android™ is a trademark of Google LLC.