He says they set his price point higher than he wanted, went forward with colorways he didn’t approve of, and wouldn’t listen to his creative input.
After unleashing a fiery tirade against his former collaborators, Kanye West wants out of his deal with The Gap. The industry mogul has been airing out The Gap after he accused them of copying his designs, and today (September 15), it was formally announced that West penned a letter requesting that his years-long contract with the megabrand come to an end. The Gap and West reportedly are contracted until 2026, but following his ire, the Rap icon wants things to end peacefully.
In the wake of that news, West made a rare appearance on CNBC’s Closing Bell where he spoke about the partnership. “Well, it was always a dream of mine to be at The Gap and to bring the best product possible to the masses,” he said.
“We went through three years and, obviously, there’s always like, struggles and back-and-forth when you’re trying to build something new and integrate teams,” Ye continued. “So, we designed an entire collection, and actually, I wasn’t able to set the actual price that I wanted for this collection and then, they actually took one of the shirts and sold it for $19. Priced my stuff at like, $200 and above their whole price point normally, and then did the exact shirt for $20.”
West said that when he initially had conversations with the brand, he emphasized the need to have lower price points. He claims they instead priced him higher, only to turn around and sell a design for what he asked. He added that it was “frustrating” and “disheartening” in communicating with executives because they were supposed to provide stores and instead gave him pop-ups.
“I just put everything I had. I put all of my top relationships, I went and got Demna [Gvasalia], the head designer for Balenciaga, which is one of the hottest brands in the world,” he said. There were apparently other issues, including “colorways that I didn’t approve,” said West, adding, “There’s a lot of places that the product went to, certain sites…it was just dog and pony.”
“Our agenda, it wasn’t aligned.”
Watch Kanye West detail why he desires to end this Gap partnership as soon as possible.