Kanye West wants answers. The rapper accused Gap of copying designs from his Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga collection.
The Chicago native, 45, took his complaint to Instagram on Wednesday, August 31, sharing a screenshot of a conversation he had with a friend. In the message thread, West’s pal sent the Grammy winner a link to a navy blue Gap T-Shirt. “This is Gap copying — YGEEB,” the unidentified person said of the design, which featured the Gap logo plastered across the bodice. The hitmaker agreed, responding: “Exactly.”
He continued: “Do you want me to post this text message?” Alongside the screenshot, West wrote: “But they canceled the photo shoot with my kids in Japan without me knowing.” Gap has not yet publicly addressed West’s accusations.
The “Graduation” artist teamed up with Balenciaga’s creative director and longtime friend, Demna, on the eight-piece Yeezy Gap collection. The line included two drops, which were unveiled in February and May, respectively.
Included in the collection are hoodies, T-shirts, long sleeves, sweatpants and denim. The collection is available in a range of shades: light grey, grey, red, black, blue and brown.
According to a press release, each piece was designed with the partners’ “shared vision of utilitarian design” in mind. The pair also wanted to “pay tribute to Gap’s timeless American icons rendered anew in wash, hue and silhouette.” In addition to select Gap stores, fans can shop the label on farfetch.com and yeezygap.com.
West’s beef with Gap comes after he recently fired back at critics who slammed him for selling Yeezy Gap out of trash bags.
“I’m an innovator, and I’m not here to sit up and apologize about my ideas,” the hip-hop star said during an August 18 interview with Fox & Friends. “That’s exactly what the media tries to do. Make us apologize for any idea that doesn’t fall under exactly the way they want us to think.”
The “Famous” musician also shared that he didn’t like the term “trash bags.”
“This is not a joke, this is not a game, this is not just some celebrity collaboration,” he said. “This is my life. I’m fighting for a position to be able to change clothing and bring the best design to the people.”
West found himself in hot water with fans days prior after a customer shared photos of mounds of clothing stuffed into large waste bins at a Gap storefront.
“The sales associate said Ye got mad when he saw they had it on the hangers and this is how he wanted it,” the social media user alleged. “They won’t help you find ur [sic] size too, you just have to dig through everything.”
The photo quickly went viral.