Apparently, Ye has had enough.
AP reported that a letter was sent to Gap on his behalf seeking termination of the partnership between the retailer and Ye’s company, Yeezy.
Ye’s letter outlined that Gap failed to meet certain contractual obligations, particularly the promise to distribute merchandise to Gap store locations and creating dedicated YZY Gap stores.
“Gap left Ye no choice but to terminate their collaboration agreement because of Gap’s substantial noncompliance,” said Nicholas Gravante, West’s attorney with Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, per an AP statement. “Ye had diligently tried to work through these issues with Gap both directly and through counsel. He has gotten nowhere.”
Gravante added that the retailer’s failure to comply with the terms of the contract has cost the mogul a large sum of money. West’s next move, according to Grevante, is to open his own chain of Yeezy retail stores.
Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, wrote in a note that the breakup was “not entirely unexpected” and wouldn’t financially harm Gap’s bottom line.
“Gap is a cautious company with a stale brand that usually eschews bold moves. In contrast, Kanye is a radical innovator who loves to shake things up,” Saunders wrote. “While Kanye could have injected a dose of energy into Gap, the incompatibility of the two visions meant that frustrations were inevitable. In some ways, Kanye was just too extreme for Gap.”
The partnership was announced in June 2020. And according to initial reports, Gap was required to sell 40% of Yeezy Gap products in its flagship stores. That has not happened according to The Wall Street Journal.
West has taken to social media to air his grievances with the brand. “You have to really give me the position to be Ye and let me do what I’m thinking, or I have to do the thinking somewhere else,” he said in a now-deleted post on Instagram.
