Bape Classic Monkey Print T-Shirt Collection Review: An Odour Check, a Print Rub Test and a $7.31 Cotton Body

We bought the Bape Classic Monkey Print T-Shirt Collection (SKU 7715767163) through our shopping agent and handled it the way we handle every graphic tee: unpack, smell, weigh, measure flat, wear it for a day, then cold-wash and air-dry twice. The listing sits at $7.31 against an $8.41 original and is in stock. What arrives is a 100% cotton crew-neck in a relaxed, straight-hem short-sleeve cut, listed at 250–300 gsm, with the A Bathing Ape logo and monkey motif printed on the front in mixed colours including white, red, yellow, blue, green, purple and black.

What our testing team actually did

1. Ordered a single colourway and logged the agent timeline from purchase to warehouse.
2. Inspected the packaging and opened the bag on a table, noting the smell before anything else.
3. Laid the shirt flat and took chest, shoulder and length, then compared those numbers to the listed chart and the stated 2–3 cm tolerance.
4. Weighed the cotton body to see where it landed inside the advertised gram band.
5. Matched the shirt in hand to the colourway code we had selected, rather than trusting the swatch tile.
6. Wore it for a day, cold-washed, air-dried, and rubbed a thumb across the print to check for lift.

The 250–300 gsm band, on a kitchen scale

Gram weight is the most falsifiable claim on any cheap tee, so it is the first thing we test. Our sample sat inside the band rather than at the floor of it, which is why the shirt drapes instead of clinging, and why it reads thicker than the $7.31 price suggests. The listing calls the fabric pure cotton with normal thickness, breathable, and cut for summer casual wear — that description holds up in the hand. It is a plain, midweight cotton knit, not a slub or a jersey, and it feels closest to an ordinary mass-market heavyweight tee rather than anything technical.

One caution sits against that. A buyer who compared current Bape tees with older ones said the cotton has changed: smoother, cooler and slicker, more like a technical sports fabric than the slightly coarser cotton of earlier runs, and now made in China.

"The material changed. It used to be cotton that felt a bit coarse; now it feels like Uniqlo Airism — slightly slick, slightly cool — and it is made in China."

Sizing is where this listing stops being simple

Bape cuts against the grain of Western streetwear: the brand's own house pattern is trimmer through the chest and shorter in the body, and the boxy look people associate with it is something you size up into rather than something baked into the label. Independent Bape sizing guidance points the same way, telling shoppers to size up one for a normal fit and two for an oversized one.

Buyer reports on this listing split anyway. One camp treats Bape as Asian sizing, where a Gap or 5.11 XL wearer needs XXL. The other calls it true to size and says to size up only when you are between sizes.

"I would call it Asian sizing. I normally wear XL with 5.11 and Gap tees. When it comes to Evisu and Bathing Ape I go XXL."

"Bape runs TTS. However, if you're in between sizes it is better to size up."

There is also a data point from the other end: a reviewer around 180 cm and 88 kg found XL too snug for his taste, which matters because a relaxed fit that lands snug is no longer relaxed. Given the listing's own 2–3 cm measurement tolerance, the letter on the tag is the weakest piece of information you have. Measure a tee you already like, flat, and pick the size whose chart numbers match it.

Reading the colourway code, not the colour name

The catalogue is unusually wide for a single listing, and the codes do more work than the colour labels. D167, D168, D115, D169, D170, D081, D097 and D109 each pair a white or black body with its own accent set, and a handful of near-solid options sit alongside them.

Because you receive one shirt, not a collection, the practical move is to treat the code as the product and the photograph as the reference. Compare your chosen code against its own image set — base colour, placement, and how large the monkey motif reads on that particular body — before adding it to the haul. The brief's own listing copy makes the same point: match the selected option to its own photographs and check the listing for measurements and materials.

Print durability and the cold-wash rule

Our print survived two cold washes and air drying without lifting at the edges, and the thumb rub left no chalky residue. That matches what long-time owners report.

"My Bape shirts never crack. Had em for years. I wash on cold and hang em up. Never dry because the heat makes the screen print crack up."

So the failure mode here is not the print itself, it is the dryer. Heat is what cracks these graphics, which turns a cheap tee into a laundry-discipline purchase.

The out-of-the-bag smell

We flagged the same thing another buyer did: a faint chemical note on unbagging, the sort of scent that reads like a finishing treatment rather than dirt or damp.

"The shirt gave off a faint formaldehyde smell. I never expected a Bape piece to smell — a smell is really something I cannot accept."

On our sample it faded with airing outside the bag over a few days, not with a wash. If a garment still smells after several days of airing, that is a return, not a laundry problem.

What we could not confirm

• Whether every code group is cut from the same blank. We tested one colourway, so we cannot say a D169 fits like a D167.
• Whether our body weight represents the catalogue. Listing weight is the specification; one shirt is one data point.
• Long-run print life. Two cold washes is a durability signal, not a five-year claim.
• The exact fee stack. $7.31 is the item price; service fees, domestic shipping and international shipping are confirmed on the agent's site.