Andrew Rizzo The beef between Nike and BAPE is over, legally speaking. The two sides came to a settlement agreement on Monday to conclude a legal battle that lasted a little over a year, Nike having filed a lawsuit regarding trademark infringements in January of 2023. However as sneakerheads know, Nike and BAPE have been butting heads for decades.
The dispute centered around several BAPE shoes that take after iconic Nike-owned silhouettes; the Air Force 1, Dunk, and Air Jordan 1. While the settlement most likely includes a monetary payment from BAPE to Nike, it also results in stark changes to BAPE’s existing product line. The Bape Sta Mid, Court Sta, and Court Sta High are all being discontinued, and BAPE will modify the design of Bape Sta and Sk8 Sta, its two most iconic silhouettes.
You don’t need to be a sneaker sleuth to identify the clear similarities between Nike and BAPE’s product line. The Bape Sta alone has been a constant source of conflict since it hit shelves in the early 2000s, essentially a 1-to-1 remake of the Air Force 1 but with a star logo in place of a Swoosh. It’s undergone some changes to make it more unique since then, but it always has been and always will be a riff on Bruce Kilgore’s 1982-born silhouette.
Notably, while the two sides have discussed trademark issues on several occasions throughout the years, this most recent dispute derived from Nike’s position that BAPE “drastically increased the volume and scope of its infringement” around 2021. This is all to say that the BAPE brand lives on, but its mainline product will look very different in the near future.
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