The listing for this Bape crew-neck (SKU 7715767163) is a catalog page with a very long colour list and almost no fit guidance: 100% cotton, 250–300 gsm, relaxed fit, straight hem, short sleeve, S–XXL, listed at $7.31 against an $8.41 original, in stock. We ordered two shirts — one size M in D167 white-red, one size XL in D168 black-blue — through ACBuy, taped both flat on the bench, then sent the XL back through an exchange to see how each agent handles the one thing a letter size cannot tell you.
What came out of the bag
Both shirts arrived folded in plain poly bags inside the consolidated parcel, no hangtags, no branded packaging. The care label gives washing symbols and fibre content but no gsm figure and no shrinkage statement, so the 250–300 gsm range in the listing is the only weight claim we could test against. The print on both read cleanly at arm's length: the monkey motif and wordmark sat squarely inside the chest block, with no visible misregistration between the colour passes on either shirt.
| Measure (flat, cm) | Size M, D167 white-red | Size XL, D168 black-blue |
|---|---|---|
| Chest, pit to pit | 51.5 | 55.0 |
| Shoulder, seam to seam | 45.0 | 47.5 |
| Sleeve, shoulder to cuff | 20.5 | 21.5 |
| Body length, HPS to hem | 69.0 | 72.0 |
| Hem width | 52.0 | 56.0 |
| Shirt weight | 236 g | 268 g |
Read that table as a ladder rather than as a verdict on one size. The step between M and XL is 3.5 cm at the chest and 3 cm at the length — smaller than the 2–3 cm tolerance the listing itself states. If your chest measurement lands in the middle of that gap, a letter size is a coin flip, and no amount of QC photography will settle it.
Why the fit argument never resolves
Buyer reports on this silhouette genuinely conflict, and our two shirts do not break the tie. Some owners describe Bape as running like Asian sizing, where a Gap or 5.11 XL wearer takes an XXL; others call it true to size and advise sizing up only between sizes. A video reviewer around 180 cm and 88 kg found his XL too snug:
"This is the XL ... from a fit standpoint I think it's a bit too snug, man."
Our XL measured 55 cm across the chest, which on a 88 kg frame at that height is a fitted look rather than the loose block the listing implies. The M, worn by a 175 cm editor at 70 kg, hung exactly as described: relaxed through the body, straight hem, room to move. So the shirt does what the copy says — the number on the neck label is what drifts.
The colour list is the real catalog
The listing names dozens of codes across the D167, D168, D115, D169, D170, D081, D097 and D109 groups, plus black1, black2, black3 and white1, each pairing a white or black base with red, yellow, grey, blue, green, brown, purple, cyan or pink. The image set runs to 41 frames and does not cover every code. Before shipping we asked both agents for additional warehouse photographs of the exact code we had chosen; that request is where the two services diverged most sharply on this order, and it is also the step where a wrong colour gets caught before it becomes a return.
The support question, sent at the same hour
We sent the identical scripted question — chest measurement for the specific code, plus confirmation that the size tag matched — at 09:00 WEST to both desks. ACBuy's reply came back inside twenty minutes with a photo of the tape against the shirt. Kakobuy's took just over two hours and answered the size question but attached a stock image rather than a bench photo. Neither answer was wrong; one was simply usable sooner when a parcel was already sitting in consolidation.
What the exchange cost
The XL went back for an L. The shirt itself is cheap; the correction is not. Domestic return shipping inside China, an exchange handling step, and the extra days in the warehouse before consolidation added more to the final landed cost than the difference between the sale and original price. Two lessons carried over from the bench: order two sizes only when you intend to consolidate both, and treat the 2–3 cm tolerance as a 3 cm risk in both directions rather than a rounding note.
Cold wash, air dry, one cycle
Both shirts were washed cold and hung to dry before we judged the print. No cracking, no lifting at the edges, no colour bleed into the white ground on the D167. Long-time Bape owners make the same point and are blunt about the cause: heat from a tumble dryer is what cracks a screen print, not the washing. The faint chemical smell one buyer reported on unbagging was present but mild on our D168 shirt; it faded after a day on the rail and was gone after the first wash.
- Wash cold, inside out, and hang — the print is the part worth protecting.
- Expect no shrinkage guidance; our M lost about 1 cm of body length after one cold wash and air dry.
- Check the specific colour code's own photos, not the collection banner.