Kanye West declared plans to terminate his business partnership contracts with shoemaker Adidas and clothes retailer Gap when they expire. Following an Instagram outburst last week, he attacked the firms for allegedly duplicating his creations.
West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, inked a 10-year agreement with Gap in 2020 to create the Yeezy Gap line and is under contract with Adidas AG until 2026 to create his Yeezy brand footwear.
West stated that it is time for him to “go at it alone” and “to make the new industry. No more companies standing in between me and the audience.”
West stated that, in addition to his e-commerce company YeezySupply.com, he plans to create actual Donda campuses—named after his late mother—that will house schools, residences, retail merchandise, and farms.
His Yeezy crew will create the clothing offered at these schools.
West stated that he aims to secure a 20% royalty on all of the shoes he’s developed with Adidas for his four children. As of 2020. West received 11% royalty.
“No one should be held in that position where people can steal from them and say we’re just paying you to shut up.” West stated.
“They my new baby mamas. I guess we’re just going to have to co-parent those 350s,” West added, referring to having to work with Gap and Adidas despite his disagreements with them.
West, who became a billionaire for the first time in 2020, controls 100% of Yeezy, while Adidas manufactures and sells the shoes. He founded the shoe line with Nike in 2009 before moving on to Adidas in 2013. West, who has long been renowned for his erratic social media outbursts, has started posting crazy rants on Instagram and then deleting them with greater regularity this year.
West has accused Adidas of ripping off the designs of his Yeezy slides, and he escalated the fight this week by sharing photos of business leaders. He also shared photos of JP Morgan Chase executives. The rapper also accused Gap of stealing his Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga designs.