Highlights
- Kanye West reportedly had over $1 million worth of clothes stolen from his Los Angeles warehouse.
- West has a history with Gap, starting from working part-time in their stores. His recent collaboration with Gap ended after issues.
- Despite the setback, Kanye’s team is dedicated to figuring out how the theft happened and has filed a police report, but West has not commented.
Kanye West has been working on his Yeezy GAP collection (a collaboration between Yeezy and Gap) but faced a massive setback when it was reported that his Los Angeles warehouse was broken into and robbed of over $1 million worth of clothes.
Chief of Staff Milo Yiannopoulos told TMZ that 60,000 clothing items were reported missing. While the team was unsure who was responsible for the theft, they noticed that the clothing was being sold cheaply. An advert posted on social media informed fans of the rapper that they could pick up clothes for $20 (a significant discount from their retail value).
Why Could Police Not Intervene Over Kanye West’s Stolen Clothing?
Police were called to the event, and while organizers claimed to have purchased them legally and offered receipts, according to TMZ, they could not produce evidence of this for all the clothes. Despite this, no apparel was confiscated by the authorities.
According to TMZ, the clothing was not taken by police because West reportedly did not file a police report. Since the event, his team has filed a police report and is dedicated to figuring out how this situation happened. The musician does not appear to have publicly commented on the stolen items (but he has been online to post photos of his wife, Bianca Censori).
What Has Kanye West Said About Working With Gap?
West has a long and complicated history with clothing retailer Gap, starting when he was a teenager working part-time in one of their Chicago stores. He mentioned the company on his track “Spaceship” in 2004, and the lyrics are hauntingly relevant. “Let’s go back, back to the Gap / Look at my check, wasn’t no scratch / So if I stole, wasn’t my fault / Yeah I stole, never got caught,” the lyrics read.
He also discussed the brand in Paper magazine (via Yahoo!). “When I was working at the Gap at 15, I don’t think I had any desire to actually make clothes, but I always felt like that’s what I wanted to be around. I loved the fabrics, I loved the colors, I loved the proportions,” he wrote. “Abercrombie [& Fitch] was too expensive for me, and the Gap was too expensive for me. Even though I worked at the Gap, I didn’t get enough hours to get a discount because I was a part-time employee because I went to high school.”
However, the brand was happy to work with West again, this time in a different capacity. They released a statement about their collaboration in 2020. “We are excited to welcome Kanye back to the Gap family as a creative visionary, building on aesthetic and success of his Yeezy brand and together defining a next-level retail partnership,” Mark Breitbard said in a statement, per CBS News.
The deal was announced for ten years, but things didn’t go as planned. In September 2022, West announced his decision to terminate the deal. His attorney, Nicholas Gravante, commented on the reasons in a statement to the Associated Press, per The Guardian. “Gap left Ye no choice but to terminate their collaboration agreement because of Gap’s substantial noncompliance,” Gravante said. “Ye had diligently tried to work through these issues with Gap both directly and through counsel. He has gotten nowhere.”
Source: NewsFinale
