BOW WOW works from an ethos it calls "Diggin' In The Crates" — the hip-hop practice of digging through old records for the one sample worth building a track around, applied to garment history instead of music. Rather than distressing pieces at random, each garment is given a fictional backstory before it's aged to match, resulting in what the brand calls Aikyō (愛嬌): charm that reads as earned rather than applied. The reference points lean toward 90s hip-hop, skate and Ura-Harajuku rather than straight military or denim history.

BOW WOW uses a standard Small–XX-Large range across most tops, mirroring true-to-size Japanese cuts. Two of the trouser styles - the Mechanic Trousers and P47 HBT Trousers include a smallest size cut on a women's block rather than a men's Small, so it's worth checking that size specifically against your usual measurements before buying.