Kanye West and his antics have caused him to lose another relationship, this time with Balenciaga. According to WWD, the French fashion brand announced it is severing ties with Ye after it published its third-quarter results. The brand’s parent company, Kering, released a statement regarding the breakup.
“Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist,” the statement read, according to WWD.
The statement didn’t go into detail about the reason behind the breakup, but Ye’s continuous controversies could have much to do with it. Blavity previously reported that the rapper was locked out of his Twitter account for threats and antisemitic comments, which he also continued to spew on the Drink Champs podcast.
The 45-year-old rapper has had a long-standing relationship with Balenciaga. The Los Angeles Times reported that the brand’s current head designer, Demna Gvasalia, was previously approved by West before being hired in 2015. Although West was an advocate for the Balenciaga’s eccentric designs, they did not begin to collaborate officially until January 2022.
In January, Forbes reported the brands would team up for the Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga. The collaboration was a joint effort between Gap, West’s brand, Yeezy, and Balenciaga.
West supporters, including @TheYeezyMafia, Yeezy’s official fan club, tweeted about the merge after the announcement.
Items were sold online and in Gap retail stores. Although the collection received mixed reviews due to pricing and aesthetics, it continued to sell out in stores.
West’s actions online and in the media became questionable as the year progressed. Possibly triggered by his public split with his wife, Kim Kardashian, his erratic behavior was not a good look to be associated with.
Gap was the first brand to announce its detachment from West in September.
CBS News reported at the time that West actually ended the 10-year contract prematurely because he felt Gap hadn’t kept up its end of the bargain.
West said some of the botched terms included the company’s failure to sell certain Yeezy clothes in Gap stores last year as well as a failure to open stores that only sold Yeezy clothing.
In turn, Gap stated it saw a substantial financial loss.
Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail, which researches key market trends, commented to CBS News that the rapper’s actions were just “too extreme” for Gap.
As that relationship came to a close, his ties with Balenciaga seemed to be intact.
The “Monster” rapper premiered his inexplicable “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at a Paris Fashion Week show alongside Candace Owens.
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