Gap Inc. is suing Kanye West for $2 million in expenses related to the fallout of the Yeezy Gap partnership.
According to a report in TMZ, Art City Center, a company that owns a Los Angeles building that was set to house the Yeezy Gap line under a new lease to Gap, sued the apparel company last year. The building owner said this space underwent renovations to ready it for the Yeezy Gap line, which never came to fruition. Now the company wants to restore the space and is asking Gap to pay.
With its new suit against West, Gap is shifting the blame to the designer and requesting he pay the building expenses as well as Gap’s legal fees in the matter against Art City Center.
Gap Inc. declined to comment. West could not immediately be located for comment.
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Gap and Kanye West’s Yeezy brand terminated their partnership in 2022. According to a notice of termination sent from West’s lawyer to Gap, West claimed that 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.
In 2021, West struck a 10-year deal for Yeezy Gap with Gap Inc. and the option to renew after 5 years. 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.
The suit marks the latest legal dilemma for West. Earlier this month, West was ordered to pay over $300,000 to Brooklyn, N.Y.-based creative Katelyn Mooney after failing to appear in court for a lawsuit that alleged that West and his Yeezy brand owed Mooney over $300,000 in damages and unpaid invoices related to a photo shoot she was hired to produce in September.
In April, a law firm filed a class action suit against Adidas for misleading investors, saying the German sportswear brand was aware of West’s controversial and racist behavior well before the brand ended its Yeezy partnership with him in October 2022. Adidas cut ties with West and his Yeezy brand after the rapper-turned-designer made repeated antisemitic comments.
Recently, however, West saw a small legal win in a suit against Adidas when a judge lifted Adidas’ order to freeze $75 million in assets for the Yeezy brand, due to a procedural mishap.
