Kanye West is continuing to speak out about his ambitions as a designer and creator.
In a Friday episode on the Alo podcast, Mind Full, West, who goes by Ye, spoke about his recent split from Gap and his thoughts on companies in general.
“I honestly believe that Gap and Adidas are part of a bigger plan to marginalize American companies and American industry,” Ye said in the interview alongside Alo co-founder Danny Harris. He added that he believes this is “the opposite of what Danny’s doing” at Alo, a yoga clothing brand.
FN has reached out to Adidas and Gap for a comment.
Ye also discussed how his goal at Gap was to democratize high fashion and have his products sold for $20 or less.
“The whole reason why I went to Gap is every step of the way in my career, there was something in the way of my career,” Ye said. “So I went to Gap.”
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The Yeezy brand officially moved to terminate its contract with Gap on Thursday after inking a 10-year deal for Yeezy Gap with Gap Inc. in 2021 with the option to renew after 5 years. According to a notice of termination sent from West’s lawyer to Gap on Thursday that was viewed by FN, Gap failed to fulfill certain contractual obligations, such as distributing Yeezy product in stores by the second half of 2021 and creating Yeezy Gap-branded stores.
“The ultimate power is position, it’s not money,” said Ye, who has previously addressed not having a seat on the Adidas or Gap boards. “Because someone at a higher position can determine your fate and they could have way less money.”
West launched his Yeezy x Gap line for the first time at brick-and-mortar Gap stores on July 21 along with product from the Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga collection. The collection became available in 45 stores the following day. However, West faced backlash for his decision to sell the Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga collection in trash bags.
