Kanye West ‘formally notifies’ Gap that he is ‘terminating’ their partnership
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Kanye West has formally notified Gap that he is ending their partnership.
The artist’s lawyers sent a letter to the company on Thursday informing them of the termination, it said The Wall Street Journal.
The letter alleged that Gap had violated their agreement, but did not release clothes as planned, or open stores.
Latest: Kanye West has formally notified Gap that he is ending their partnership
The rapper had revealed on Monday that he is done with corporate sponsorships and will not renew his current contracts with Gap and Adidas when they expire – a move that would jeopardize billions of dollars in revenue.
“It’s time for me to go it alone,” said the musician, who now goes by the name Ye Bloomberg News.
It is well. I made the companies money. The companies made me money. We’ve created ideas that will change clothes forever. Like the round jacket, the foam runner, the slippers that changed the shoe industry,” he continued. Now it’s time for Ye to create the new industry. No more companies standing between me and the public.’
The multi-Grammy Award-winning artist has until 2026 before his Adidas deal expires and this contract with Gap, signed in June 2020, is good for an additional eight years.
Not the first time: The singer and aspiring politician had previously complained but his lack of board seats. Seen here in a tweet from September 10
Rant: ‘I WEAR JORDANS UNTIL I’M ON THE BOARD OF ADIDAS,’ tweeted the Black Skinhead hitmaker, along with a ski emoji, among other tweets
But in his mind, Ye, whose Yeezy Boost 350s are manufactured by the international sneaker company, they are already divorced.
“They’re my new baby mamas,” he told the financial news channel. “I think we should just co-age those 350s.”
Earlier this month, Ye was in a social media blitz against the two apparel companies, accusing Adidas of seizing creative control of the Yeezy brand and stealing its design ideas to produce shoes similar to its Boost trainers. He also claimed that the shoe company ripped off his slide design.
“No one should be kept in that position where people can steal from them and say we’re just paying you to shut up,” he told Bloomberg. ‘That destroys innovation. That destroys creativity. That destroyed Nikola Tesla.’
He has hammered Adidas executives with a series of mocking Instagram posts until, he claims, his lawyers intervened and asked him to stop.
In some posts, he put the head of Adidas CEO Daniel Cherry on someone else’s body and made mocking videos of the company director.
Ye also went after JPMorgan Chase, where he keeps much of his money after switching from a small bank in Wyoming for not supporting him in his war against the popular clothing brands.
Kanye West signed his deal with GAP in 2020, which has resulted in some bizarre designs
Ridiculous: The 45-year-old rapper turned designer has publicly expressed a feud with Adidas, whom he collaborates with through his Yeezy empire
“I’ve been to JP Morgan but of course they won’t give me deal flow as Jin(g) Ulrich is on the boards of both Adidas and JP Morgan. Which shoe company will put me in control. I must be the head of the board and the key decision maker,” he wrote.
Jing Ulrich is the Chase vice-chare of investment banking.
Ye also tried to get banking titan Jamie Dimon on the phone, but was tricked by the financier.
“I feel like there’s a lot of scrutiny and treatment to suppress my ability to influence the US economy and industry,” the rapper said of Chase.
Bloomberg reported that Ye owns $122 million in cash and stock, but his business deals make him a billionaire.
His financial dealings are as eclectic as his music choices.
Ye hired Michael Cohen, the convicted ex-lawyer of former President Donald Trump, to give him financial advice, according to Bloomberg News.
It was Cohen who recommended that he move his money from Wyoming, which he said “wasn’t equipped to handle his business or him personally, to the big investment bank.”
The Yeezy brand earned $191 billion in royalties from the Adidas deal in 2020, according to USB Group AG.
The artist has complained almost from the beginning of his business partnerships that he was kept out of the making.
Kanye West, pictured here, indicated that he is done with Adidas. He signed his deal with the shoe brand in 2015 and it will run until 2026
Happier times: Kanye had previously tweeted enthusiastically about the collaboration
In July 2020, Gap’s stock fell 7.4 percent after it threatened to pull out of deals with the clothing company a month after signing the partnership with his brand Yeezy.
He threatened to do the same to the international sneaker maker, but their stock ended for the day.
The musician’s public disagreements with the brands have led to corporate headaches after other public figures such as Sean Combs and Swizz Beatz declared a public boycott of Adidas.
Ye’s public disagreements with the brands have sparked a business headache after other public figures such as Sean Combs and Swizz Beatz announced a public boycott of Adidas.
Ye’s focus seems to be shifting from the clothing company Yeezy to Donda Academy, a school named after his late mother.
He plans to set up campuses across the country with schools, farms, retail space and dormitories, Bloomberg reported.
It’s unclear where Gap and Adidas fit in.
“Every step in my career, something got in the way,” Ye told the financial news service. “They did the dream, but only without Ye.”