The collaboration between Kanye West and Balenciaga arrives in stores at
the Gap as the American brand changes direction.
Will the Kanye West effect save Gap? In any case, the American brand has
found a jump start. In one year, thanks to a partnership with the
superstar, Gap regains some of its luster lost since the late 90s,
revolutionizing its business plan, but also its organization chart. As a
reminder, the CEO Sonia Syngal left her position on July 11 after failing
to turn around the brand. A few days later, in a message posted on
Instagram, Kanye West indicated that he had finally, for the first time,
met Bob L. Martin, chairman of the company and new interim CEO of the
company, as well as other leaders of Gap.
In this message, which is also the only post on her Instagram account,
the star expresses her hopes for a long and prosperous collaboration while
giving figures that attest to the resounding success of her investment in
the company. “We had two of the biggest sales in Gap history since I’ve
been there. Based on a TV commercial that only aired once, we sold 14
million 80 dollar black hoodies.”
Indeed, this garment which had been put on sale at the end of last
September, had sold out in a few hours according to the brand which had
never communicated figures. This cotton hoodie was the second creation
signed “Ye” within the framework of a ten-year renewable contract signed
with the American brand. Sonia Syngal, at the time, said that 70 percent of
the people who bought the product had never heard of the brand before.
These are staggering figures when you think that Gap had notoriously missed
the boat on collaborations, the spearhead of fashion for the past fifteen
years.
A billion in sales for the first year of collaboration
Artist, but also successful fashion designer with his own label Yeezy,
and especially wise businessman, Kanye West knows that each of his words
will be dissected. “I came to the Gap to put good products directly in the
store.” That sounds more like the roadmap to a broad mandate than the title
of a brief collaboration. Wells Fargo financial analysts estimated on June
30, 2021, that the West-Gap partnership could bring in about 1 billion
dollars in revenue in its first year. With a 50 percent markup on each
Yeezy-branded product, a rate that is all the higher given that most of the
clothing is sold at full price.
The red carpet rolled out by the new management teams to the star seems
to confirm this prediction. Next step of this Ye magic, the first launch in
physical store, this Thursday at 10 am – American time – of the Yeezy Gap
Engineered by Balenciaga collection which was only available on digital
until now. Only one point of sale for the moment: the Gap store in Times
Square, the second floor of which will be entirely devoted to this event.
Other stores will follow, on American territory.
The rapper got the scoop on this announcement on her Yeezy Instagram
account, which features a 50-second video directed by Thyago Sainte with
Betsy Johnson as creative director. A striking video: a pile of dark
clothes in front of which a man dressed completely in black, his face in
the dark, waits in front of a black table. A customer, also in black like
his avatar figure, presents his purchase with a robotic, almost brutal
gesture. The click of the scan resounds in a chilling silence. Below the
video, someone comments: “I will go for the hoodie of course, but above all
for the experience”. In the only Instagram post published on his personal
account, Kanye West concludes: “Bob, I need to see you soon”. Gap
definitely has a new boss.
This article was originally published on FashionUnited.FR,
translated and edited to English by Kelly Press.
