Bape Classic Monkey Print T-Shirt Collection Review: One 250–300 gsm Cotton Body, Fifty Colourways, Two Sizing Camps

A Bape monkey-print crew-neck is not a hard graphic to find, which means the interesting question has moved. It is no longer what the print looks like. It is whether the cotton body behaves like a midweight tee, and whether the size you tick at checkout is the size that arrives at the warehouse. We ordered two colourways through our Kakobuy warehouse and spent three weeks wearing, measuring and washing them.

What arrived, and what the listing actually is

The catalog snapshot prices the listing at $7.31 USD, down from $8.41, SKU 7715767163, marked in stock. It is a collection rather than a single garment: short-sleeve pullover crew necks, loose cut, straight hem, A Bathing Ape lettering and the monkey motif printed across the front in mixed colours. Sizes run S through XXL, and the colour list is genuinely long — the D167, D168, D115, D169, D170, D081, D097 and D109 groups each pair a white or black base with red, yellow, grey, blue, green, brown, purple, cyan or pink, plus separate black1, black2, black3 and white1 entries.

We ordered the D167 white/red and D168 black/blue versions in L and XXL. Both arrived folded with warehouse photos taken flat, front and back, before shipping. Nothing in the pack suggested a different fabric or cut between the two groups, and the print placement sat consistently across the chest on both.

Reading the 250–300 gsm claim

The seller states 100% cotton, a pure-cotton plain weave, 250 g to 300 g (exclusive) and breathable, with a normal thickness and a summer listing season. On our scale the L body came in at 214 g and the XXL at 238 g, which fits a fabric in the upper half of that band once you account for cutting waste. It is not a heavyweight tee and it does not pretend to be.

In the hand it is dry and smooth rather than coarse, closer to a summer-weight streetwear cotton than to the heavier, rougher tees some long-time Bape buyers remember. One retail buyer has noted exactly that shift, describing newer Bape cotton as smoother and cooler-feeling and now made in China. Treat that as a directional note about the brand's current fabric, not a controlled comparison with this listing.

Our flat measurements

We measure every garment flat and on a body, then set the numbers against the seller's chart. Our two pieces both sat inside the stated tolerance — but the tolerance itself is 2–3 cm, which matters more than usual here because the fit reports below are contradictory.

Size	Chest, pit-to-pit (flat)	Body length	Shoulder	Sleeve
L	55 cm	71 cm	48 cm	21 cm
XXL	60 cm	76 cm	52 cm	22 cm

Note that we pulled the chest flat and left it relaxed; a 250–300 gsm cotton with no elastane will read 1–2 cm narrower when you stretch the tape. If you are between sizes, that gap is the one that decides whether the relaxed cut looks relaxed.

The print, after three washes

Each tee went through three cycles at 30°C, inside out, with a colour-safe detergent, then hung to dry. Neither print cracked, lifted at the edge or bled into the white base, and the D167 red stayed put against its white ground. Both prints softened slightly in feel, which is normal for a screen print and does not affect the graphic. Long-time Bape owners make the same point and are blunt about the cause of cracking: heat. Machine drying is what kills these prints.

Neither tee shrank measurably through the three washes. We re-measured after the third cycle and stayed inside our own 0.5 cm margin of error.

Sizing is the one thing this listing cannot settle

This is the part to slow down on. Community reports genuinely disagree, and we cannot resolve the conflict from two garments.

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.

The other camp reports the opposite: true to size, with a size up only if you sit between two sizes. A third data point comes from a reviewer around 180 cm and 88 kg who found the XL too snug for his taste — which cuts against the idea that the deliberate relaxed cut absorbs a size either way. Independent sizing guides for the brand land on the same side as the first camp, describing Japanese sizing that runs small against UK or US expectations on tees.

Our L and XXL matched the chart within tolerance, so the chart is usable. What it cannot tell you is how you want a loose street tee to sit. Measure a tee you already like, flat, and compare chest and body length before you order.

Colourway choice and agent logistics

The colour list is the other real decision point, and it is a long one. Each variant is photographed separately, so match the variant image to the one you are buying rather than trusting the headline shots. Two buyers' notes worth carrying into your order:

• One buyer reported a faint formaldehyde-like chemical smell when the tee came out of the bag. Ours did not, but it happens, and an airing wash before first wear handles it.
• Ask for one extra warehouse photo with a tape across the chest. It costs cents and settles the tolerance question before the parcel leaves China.

Wash cold, hang dry, and keep the print out of a tumble dryer. That single habit is the difference between a print that lasts years and one that cracks in a season.