Kanye West released the second clothing drop of his Yeezy collaboration with Gap, and to the surprise of many, it’s a simple hoodie.
The rapper-turned-designer made his relationship with the retailer official in June 2020, announcing that the first pieces to come out of the 10-year Yeezy Gap deal would be introduced in the first half of 2021. One year later, in conjunction with West’s 44th birthday, Gap released the $200 “Round Jacket” in the form of a pre-order, sharing that those who purchased the Yeezy piece wouldn’t be seeing it until fall. On Wednesday, the line’s second piece was added to Gap’s website.
Gap cleared the photos from its Instagram account in preparation for the drop to make room for six individual posts showing the hoodie in its six colors. Still, the sweatshirt was only available for purchase to those who visited gap.com/yeezy on Wednesday morning where they were met with a virtual waiting room and a survey that asked for some personal information before selecting a preferred size. Only then could people select and pay for the $90 hoodie, which GQ reports will take two to three weeks to ship.
While many celebrated the chance to get a hold of the hoodie before it quickly sold out — noting that it will likely go up in price for resale on marketplaces like Stock X — others questioned why anybody would spend $90, or $70 for kids, on a plain sweatshirt that can be purchased elsewhere (a lot of people across several social media outlets pointed out that Gildan’s basic hoodie costs $14 and looks exactly the same). Of course, fans have pointed out that they’re willing to pay for the Yeezy name on the tag or the elite quality that they’re expecting the double-lined cotton sweatshirt to have.
The Yeezy Gap apparel line is a dream come true for West who has spoken about his admiration of Gap Inc. in the past, sharing in a 2015 interview with The Cut that he had ambitions to become “the Steve Jobs of the Gap.” After a partnership with Adidas in 2013 and the continued success of West’s own Yeezy merchandise, Gap was able to secure the deal. Gap is said to being paying royalties and potential equity to Kanye’s Yeezy brand based on sales performance of the collaboration. According to Bloomberg the Gap Yeezy line alone could be worth $970 million.
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