After roughly a four-month hiatus on Twitter, entrepreneur and music legend Kanye West broke his silence to drop a teaser image of the much-awaited Yeezy collaboration with American clothing brand Gap.
On the same day of Kanye’s announcement, something a bit more obvious hit the timeline: Gap’s signature square logo remixed to include the iconic “YZY.” And with this, we can confirm that the collaboration is very real and will most likely hit the gap stores at the top of 2021.
Given Kanye West’s dominance and influence in streetwear coupled with Yeezy’s multi-million track record with brands including A.P.C and Adidas over the years, this new collection is destined for another sell-out record, adding another layer to Kanye’s endless evolution in the fashion space. Both Gap and West are hoping the 10-year deal will produce $1 billion in annual sales by the fifth year.
As exciting as the news may be, especially to the Yeezy collectors, others can’t seem to contain their doubt and the question that’s been lingering on their mind is, will it work? The Yeezy brand that Kanye co-founded with Adidas has gained a cult following from the streetwear community over the years—before eventually blowing into a global success—because of one reason: exclusivity. It’s no secret how Yeezy built its name around the culture of hype and West’s own personal brand, which is the opposite of this new partnership. Fashion insiders are saying that when something is virtually available for everyone, no one will want it. Of course, this is not always true. Case in point: Apple is ultra-premium and its products were originally meant to target affluent professionals, but over the years, the brand has diversified its consumer profiles and has released a wide array of offerings specifically targeting each segment without hurting its overall brand equity. Then there’s also the question of whether Gap will be able to sustain this new position in the marketplace, or will it suffer the same fate as names like J.Crew or Forever21, retailers who filed for bankruptcy amid the pandemic’s shaky retail climate.
At this point, everything is premature but one thing is for sure, Kanye will do everything to make this successful. West understands what people want to wear before they know they want to wear it. Back in 2015 when he debuted Yeezy during the New York Fashion Week, he said he wanted to “absolve consumers of dressing’s daily stress by creating a line of high-quality essentials that can be freely combined in infinite ways—like legos.” He then started a new fashion norm made of loose clothing with minimal designs, solid-colored hoodies, oversized sweatpants, and T-Shirts, which later on were adapted by fast fashion brands like H&M and Zara. Earthy color palettes and athleisure wear also became West and Yeezy’s signature aesthetic which is predominantly present in almost all collections that Yeezy released a the start of this year.
We’re as excited as everyone else and we can’t wait to see how this collaboration is going to play out.