Donda rapper Kanye West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, has announced his interest in opening Yeezy brick-and-mortar stores across the world, starting with Atlanta.
Ye shared a now-deleted Instagram post on August 31 2022, stating his plan as well as a callout to all his fans and followers with retail experience who want to be a part of the venture. Similar posts are however still active on Facebook.
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Ye’s message on opening a Yeezy store
His latest Facebook post features a video of him speaking to a group of people — presumably his Yeezy staff — all clad in black, and sharing his aspirations for the brand. It’s also captioned: “The Vision will be realized Lets start with stores in Atlanta”.
Previously, the “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” star had shared a long text post on Instagram saying that he wishes to open Yeezy stores all over the world, “Starting in Atlanta.” He also added , “Who would be the best to open it? I’ll buy the land and building then we gonna open up in every state and then internationally.”
The post was also an open letter to all interested individuals with considerable experience in retail management who wish to be a part of his vision and expansion. It mentions, “Anyone who has over 10 years [of] retail experience and is ready to change the world, post your Instagram handle or store location in the comments and we’ll find you.”
He ended the long text with the words, “Ima show you how to use social media.” Ye also shared a screenshot of Facetiming rapper 2Chainz and captioned the post, “2 Chainz said he got the mayor(‘s) number I added the s cause my mama was head of the English department But this may take some incorrect English to get done.”
Ye is still recruiting on Facebook, though, with a recent post stating, “If you not looking to work at Yeezy full time, don’t text me or nobody I know we not looking for help.”
Message from supporters
Soon after sharing the Instagram post, Ye had shared a slew of other screenshots showing how several fans and followers gave in their support and are willing to work with him.
Some of his famous celebrity friends including social media personality Justin LaBoy, rapper Pusha T and musician Fivio Foreign have extended their support and their wish to run the stores. Ye’s posts have since been deleted.
Digs at GAP and adidas
On Facebook, Ye took digs at retail giants Adidas and GAP in an infographic titled “How to create an Angry ye”. The post was captioned “I’m not even angry anymore I’m focused”.
He had recently explained in a deleted Instagram post that he is planning to open these stores himself as both the brands have failed to honour their contract clauses which state that they will display Yeezy products in their stores across the US. Ye wrote, “I signed with both Adidas and Gap because it contractually stated that they would build permanent stores which neither company has done even though I saved both of those companies at the same time.”
Previously, he accused GAP of reportedly conducting meetings regarding him but excluding him. In another instance, he shared an image of a model wearing a GAP T-shirt, which is apparently ripped off from his Yeezy Gap engineered by Balenciaga. Though he mentioned nothing about the brand allegedly copying his designs, he captioned the image, “But they canceled the photo shoot with my kids in Japan without me knowing.”
Ye entered into a decade-long partnership with GAP in 2020 and the Yeezy Gap collection engineered by Balenciaga was released earlier in 2022.
(Main and featured image credit: Angela Weiss/ AFP)
This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Singapore
