To bring apparel to consumers in a new YEEZY Gap line, Kayne West is collaborating with Gap through a partnership unveiled on Friday (June 26). The apparel collection is set to be displayed in Gap retail locations as well as on the retailer’s eCommerce website next year, according to an announcement.
The YEEZY design studio will create the new range of products to provide “modern, elevated basics for men, women and kids at accessible price points,” per the announcement.
YEEZY AND GAP FORM PARTNERSHIP #WESTDAYEVER pic.twitter.com/NyxgfYTjJM
— ye (@kanyewest) June 26, 2020
Gap Inc. will retain ownership of its brand, while Kanye West will keep ownership of his YEEZY brand, which had a $2.9 billion value as of April of this year. The new clothing collaboration is said to expand the size and breadth of YEEZY on the heels of the success of the brand’s footwear. YEEZY will earn royalties and possible equity connected with sales performance.
West worked in a Gap retail location as a teen in Illinois, and the new collaboration brings the relationship “full circle”, noted the announcement. Mark Breitbard, global head of the Gap brand, said in the announcement, “We are excited to welcome Kanye back to the Gap family as a creative visionary, building on the aesthetic and success of his YEEZY brand and together defining a next-level retail partnership.”
The collaboration was said to bring the YEEZY and Gap names before “new audiences.”
In June, Gap reported a 13 percent year-over-year rise in online shopping sales and 100 percent year-over-year sales growth in May amid store closings related to COVID-19, which led to a 43 percent year-over-year sales drop. At the time, the retailer said that 55 percent of its company-operated footprint in North America was open and that approximately 90 percent of its footprint was offering “convenient omnichannel order fulfillment options.”
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