2016, Kanye West’s clothing brand yeezy partnered with Adidas AG – ADR ADDY to the Adidas + Kanye West for the production of shoes, clothing and accessories.
This happened after West left Nike Inc NKE in 2013 because Adidas was willing to give West more control over its branded apparel and footwear.
In June 2020, West partnered with gap inc Geographic Positioning System to deliver its brand’s products at an affordable price to millions of buyers.
What happened: In a series of Instagram posts that have now been deleted, West expressed his issues with Adidas and Gap copying his designs without permission and knowingly excluding him from meetings.
According to HypeBeast, West wrote: “I really care about building something that will change the world and something I can leave behind for my children. They tried to buy me out for $1 billion. My royalties alone next year are $500 million.”
In 2021, The Business of Fashion reported, sales from the Yeezy licensing deal accounted for 7% of Adidas’ annual sales, totaling $1.7 billion.
Among the executives targeted by West was a senior vice president of Adidas Daniel Kirsch III seemed to be the main goal, as West wrote in a deleted Instagram post: “Hi, my name is DC. I was hired by the recently deceased Kasper without YE’s knowledge to lead the world’s most culturally influential brand,” Newsweek reported.
Following those posts, celebrities took to Instagram to support West’s allegations against Adidas.
On September 6th, famous rapper and friend Diddy posted Instagram a screenshot of West and his conversation showing support, with a caption that says “I’m done wearing Adidas products until they get it right!!”
As well as targeting Adidas, West also took to Instagram on Aug. 31 to squabble with Gap, posting a screenshot of text messages accusing Gap of stealing one of his designs: “This is GAP, that YGEBB copied.” West wrote, adding, “But they canceled the photoshoot with my kids in Japan without me…
