Kanye West (now known as Ye) is not only regarded as one of the best-selling artists with over 160 million records sold, but he is also a fashion designer who stepped into the fashion industry in 2006. He started by launching his clothing line in 2006 before it was canceled in 2009. The artist moved to Rome to intern at Fendi, expressing his opinions and giving ideas for the men’s collection.
In 2012, when Ye premiered his second fashion line at Paris Fashion Week, it received a much better response than his 2011 premiere show. He collaborated with Adidas in 2013 to launch Adidas Yeezy Boots and the Yeezy clothing line in 2015. The collaboration was brought to an end in 2022 following Ye’s anti-Semitic remarks.
West, who signed a 10-year deal with GAP to create Yeezy Gap, announced in 2022 that the deal had come to an end. He also recalled how it was one of the brands he couldn’t afford back in the day, but later went on to have his own collaboration with it.
Kanye West credits GAP for inspiring his passion for style
At the age of 15, Kanye West started working part-time at one of the GAP’s Chicago stores. The artist, in his interview with Paper Magazine back in 2015 (via Yahoo! ), noted that, as far as he can remember, he didn’t have any desire to make clothes, but he always felt that he needed to be around clothes. Ye explained,
“I loved the fabrics, I loved the colors, and I loved the proportions. Abercrombie & Fitch was too expensive for me, and the GAP was too expensive for me. Even though I worked at the GAP, I didn’t get enough hours to get a discount because I was a part-time employee because I went to high school.”
Kanye ‘Ye’ West acknowledged during the conversation that he feels that he was always meant to be the ‘gap’ in the bridge, noting that he thinks it’s important for him as an artist to share as much information as he can with young artists. He mentioned that he feels this way so that all the music artists can make better music in the future.
“We should all be trying to make something that’s better. It’s funny that I worked at GAP in high school, because in my past 15 years, it seems like that’s the place I stood in my creative path—to be the gap, the bridge.”
Ye appeared on CNBC to explain his relationship with the brand, stating that it was his dream to be at the GAP and bring the best products possible to the masses. He stated that he has always talked to the authorities about doing products for $20, noting that the best products in the world are designed to the same level as the top fashion houses at $20 for the people.
Kanye West revealed what led to the dissolution of the collaboration
During his conversation with CNBC, the Vulture 2 artist explained that the brand he credited as his inspiration for style had held pop-ups, which was not agreed to. He mentioned,
“And they just ignored us about building stores constantly. It was frustrating. It was very disheartening. Because I put everything I had. I listed all of my top relationships. I went and got Demna Gvasalia, the lead designer of Balenciaga, which is one of the hottest brands in the world. He does couture, and with that relationship, he ended up working on a GAP collection for me.”
Kanye West pointed out that one of the most disappointing things that came along with the collaboration was the poor communication channel with the brand. This led to him feeling ignored during meetings, and he noted that sometimes he would talk to the guys, and he realized that he was on mute.
Ye shared during the interview that the agenda he had did not align with the brand. The artist said that everyone knows that he is the leader, so keeping that in mind, he cannot live in someone else’s castle.
Wall Street Journal (via Billboard) reports also suggested that the artist also claimed that the brand allegedly left him out of the creative decisions and meetings. After the Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga collection was displayed, a shopper shared that the clothes were being sold in what looked like trash bags.
Ye, at the time, said that he was an innovator and was not going to apologize for his idea.
