By
Steve Muchoki
August 25th, 2023
The revelation of the split is not boding well for the fashion brand as its shares closed Thursday’s trading session with a fall of 3.64%.
American music rapper, producer, and designer Kanye West has ended his Yeezy business relationship with American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer Gap Inc (NYSE: GPS) as many terms of their agreement have not been honored. While the termination news was first broken by West, who now goes by the name Ye, but was later confirmed by Gap’s Chief Executive Officer, Mark Breitbard in its memo to employees.
The grievance held by Ye was hinged on the fact that his planned high-end clothing, through his Yeezy outfit was not churned out to benefit consumers as he expected. The bigger fashion brand did not also fulfill its promises of opening dedicated physical Yeezy Gap stores throughout the course of their relationship.
“Yeezy notified Gap of its concerns in August and gave the company a contractually-designated 30 days to cure its breaches,” said Nicholas Gravante, a lawyer for Ye.
While the concerns have been noted for quite some time, Ye’s party said Gap neither took note of the concerns nor acted on them, thus necessitating the split.
“It was always a dream of mine to be at the Gap and to bring the best product possible,” Ye told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Thursday. “Obviously there’s always struggles and back-and-forth when you’re trying to build something new and integrate teams.”
In its confirmation, Breitbard said the company has started “winding down” its relationship with Yeezy as both firms’ plans to fulfill their shared visions do not align.
“While we share a vision of bringing high-quality, trend-forward, utilitarian design to all people through unique omni experiences with Yeezy Gap, how we work together to deliver this vision is not aligned,” Breitbard said in the memo.
The revelation of the split is not boding well for the fashion brand as its shares closed Thursday’s trading session down 3.64% to $9 with a further 0.70% slump in today’s pre-market.
Kanye West Wants to Take Yeezy Solo
Kanye West has a history of slugging it out with major brands in the brand and has also had a similar spat with German clothing line Adidas AG (ETR: ADS) with a known attack on the firm through Instagram posts.
Right now, Ye said he is committed to taking Yeezy Solo and interfacing with his targeted audience much more directly.
“I made the companies money. The companies made me money. We created ideas that will change apparel forever. Like the round jacket, the foam runner, the slides that have changed the shoe industry. Now it’s time for Ye to make the new industry. No more companies standing in between me and the audience,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg.
It is not uncommon for celebrities to own a fashion brand alongside their core talent and business. From Rihanna to 50 Cents, diversification has always been a goal for many, and Ye may be on track to finding his tune in the fashion world.