Fake Bape Hoodie Vs Real – 8 Steps (2023)

We’ve analysed hundreds of Bape Shark Tiger Hoodies and we’ve made the most complete fake vs real legit check guide for A Bathing Ape’s most famous streetwear piece.

In order to spot a fake Bape Shark/Tiger Hoodie, you’ll need to look out for inconsistencies on the wash tag (care tag) and the neck tag. We’ve made attached pictures for authentic vs counterfeit comparisons below, so stick with us.

Besides spotting a fake Bape Hoodie by looking at these two hoodie tags fake vs real comparisons, we’ve also attached some other details you can check out — again, all our authentication guides found in our app go as deep as possible.

Note, even though we use multiple colourways in this article — such as Bape Space Camo, Bape Camo, Pink Camo, etc. — this is an all-around guide that applies to all hoodies.

In this guide we’ll cover: hide

Let’s begin the fake vs real comparison guide.

Step 1: Spot a fake Bape hoodie by looking for the quality of the neck tag

We suggest starting the authentication process of the Tiger/Shark hoodie by looking either at the neck tag or the wash tag — see the next step if for some reason this detail cannot be analysed.

Fake vs real Bape space camo hoodie neck tag

Don’t be afraid if the multitude of tells is confusing, we’ve attached the map below where we explain the real vs fake hoodie tags details:

1. Remember, replica manufacturers will always compromise quality on details that are not visible (such as the neck tag). Therefore, the stitching is all the time loose/low-quality on fake neck tags.
2. The authentic neck tag’s text is very slightly bolder — the gap inside the first capital “A” or the first lowercase “a” is visibly smaller on the authentic hoodie tag.
3. Pay close attention to the definition of the ape icon. Highlighted on the fake hoodie tag is missing detail and generally, the counterfeit one will lack detail.
4. Yet another detail that’s missing is, in this case, at the bottom of the ape icon — notice how the replica tag’s ape is a bit more “furry”, as opposed to a well-defined icon on the authentic version.
5. The ® is too far away on the fake hoodie tag.
6. The bottom line of this ribbon is too wavy on the fake.
7. Notice how the letter spacing between “t” and “h” is almost nonexistent on the counterfeit neck tag.
8. Fake Bape Shark/Tiger hoodie tags will have inconsistencies in print such as this one — observe the lower-left corner of the “i” dot.
9. The “1993 to 2093” text is slightly thinner on the replica tag and a bit too far from the ribbon (especially on the right end of the text box).
10. In the fake “world gone mad” text, the highlighted “D” letter is misprinted. Also worth noting is how there’s a clearer distinction between “A” and “R” on the genuine Bape hoodie tag, yet on the counterfeit one, they’re harder to tell apart.
11. Once again, stitching is lacking on the fake tag.
12. Very important tell: the “S” that denotes the size is misaligned on this side tag.

Not all pieces will have all these exact fake hoodie tag flaws but some of them will. Pay attention to inconsistencies with the level of attention to detail described above.

Moving on, not all tags will be high-quality, like the one we compared above. Here’s an example of a lower-quality fake Bape hoodie for illustration purposes.

Fake vs real Bape green camo hoodie neck tag

For the sake of explaining those, we’ll quickly note:

1. Poor stitching
2. Less detail found on the fake Bape icon
3. Fuzzy lines in print on the fake
4. “1993 to 2093” text is too close to the ribbon
5. Misaligned letter
6. “A” and “R” are practically indistinguishable
7. “XL” font is too big.

Just to clear out any possible misinterpretations, any stitching that looks like the one pictured below is 100% a fake Bape hoodie.

Fake vs authentic Bape blue camo hoodie neck tag

One last thing to be mentioned before we move on to the next tell is the fact that on the other side of the side tag, one should find this Bape logo — pictured below.

Step 2: Try to find inconsistencies on the Bape wash tag

Moving on, we’ll need to take a close look at the wash tag. Don’t worry, nothing is too complicated here and the fake tells are very obvious, as we’ll soon see in the fake vs real comparison pictures.

We’ll start with the best fake care tag.

The most important thing I’d look out for is the density of the wash tag stitching, pictured with #1.

Spotting fake Bape hoodies is very easy since replica manufacturers always compromise here — no person who wears counterfeit hoodies cares about these details. We’ll attach some other pictures as well below, bear with us.

As you can notice through numbers 2, 3, 5 and 6, the font on the genuine Bape hoodie is thinner than its counterpart. You need to pay close attention, but once you see it, you can’t un-see it.

Last but not least, tell number 4 is very important. Real Bape hoodies should have this character that looks like a bullet point, but not quite. It’s closer to a bullet point with an asterisk on top.

This is an absolute instant tell for a fake Bape hoodie care tag: an asterisk on where the number 4 is highlighted.

No authentic piece from this model should come with an asterisk.

Moving on, here’s another example of the less dense stitching found on the fake Bape wash tag (or care tag).

Both examples are fake, with the left one being definitely less dense, and the right one showing a richer-but-not-rich-enough stitching version.

And last but not least, make sure you give the wash tags a read. In the image below, we have pointed out at a fake hoodie that has two text flaws, but please keep in mind that these two flaws were made even on the authentic 2015-2017 Bape items!

1. “it nside out” — instead of “inside out”
2. “Slight shrikage” — instead of “slight shrinkage”

If you have a Bape item which was released in other years than 2015-2016-2017 and it has these typing flaws, it is most likely for it to be fake, but if it was released in 2015-16-17, it may be authentic even with these flaws.

It’s also worth noting how the spacing between letters is suspect. Enjoy yourself a nice quick evening read just to make sure you stay safe when buying a Bape hoodie from a reseller.

Step 3: Verify the authenticity of the gold tag

Every Bape item comes with this thing that we call a “gold tag”. What it consists of is a small tag with the Bape logo printed in reflective, golden material.

There are multiple types of gold tags and we’ve covered an in-depth guide on how to tell the difference between an authentic and a fake gold tag.

Above is a preview of one of the steps we’ve identified in our Bape gold tag legit check guide. Notice here the stitching flaw we’ve identified above in step #2.

In order to see the gold tag guide, click here. We’ve separated the guides so as to treat them differently — all Bape hoodies come with gold tags, but gold tags are not exclusively found on Bape hoodies.

In fact, all Bape items come with this gold tag, thus we didn’t want to limit the scope of the guide to hoodies only.

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Step 4: Analyze the Bape WGM text patch

The “WGM” patch stands for World Gone Mad, one of Bape’s famous slogans. Here, we’ve got quite a few examples of fakes, ranging from high-quality to low-quality versions.

Let’s start with an equal pink camo real vs pink camo fake Bape hoodie comparison.

Please note that this is a high-quality replica. What you will always want to keep an eye out for is the quality of the way these letters were manufactured.

Highlighted on the fake W and on the counterfeit G are two spots that betray the lower-quality machines used in the fake factories — no authentic Bape should come with those uneven details.

Last but not least, the “M” letter is visibly bolder on the fakes. We’re looking at a well-made replica which fixes other flaws we’ll see below but comes with a new flaw of its own: a bolder “M”.

The fake here is more obvious than the previous legit check comparison: misaligned letters, poorly-cut shapes and imprecise materials are easily giving away this fake.

I will assume there’s no need to explain the fake vs real comparison in this case, so we’ll move on to a higher quality replica. If you feel like we need to expand on this, drop a comment and we’ll do our best to cover it.

One last thing you need to keep an eye on is the way the outline of the letter is cut. Notice on the fake “G” how an extra bump is present in the highlighted area.

Leaving that letter aside, also highlighted is the space between the W pillars. That space is sometimes too narrow on the fake Bape hoodies, though it’s a minor aspect.

99.99% of the time these letters will have extra bumps, loose threads, or any other inconsistency that will enable you to spot a fake Bape hoodie.

I’ll just attach one last picture showing another inconsistency for a replica Bape hoodie since some of them vary wildly.

Last but not least, very very few fake hoodies might come with almost proper stitching, like the one below. I’d argue even the one below is not perfect but notice please how the “G” letter is not properly aligned.

Upon closer inspection, the “G” letter is sinking, when compared to the other two.