Kanye West has accused Nike of stealing from him in a curiously-timed outburst that coincided with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian partnering with the sports giant.
On Tuesday (February 18), the rapper and fashion mogul continued his social media tirade by implying that Nike had copied his signature sleek sneaker designs.
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Alongside pictures of the brand’s upcoming GT Future sneaker, Ye sarcastically wrote on Instagram: “THIS NEW NIKE DESIGN REALLY MOVED US / REALLY INSPIRED US AT YEEZY WE APPRECIATE YOU GUYS WORK TO THE TEAM TEAM BEHIND THESE THANK FOR MAKING SOMETHING NEW AND SPECIAL, LOVE YE.”
Nike, who previously collaborated with Kanye on a number of Nike Air Yeezy sneakers in the late 2000s and early 2010s, have yet to respond.
It is perhaps no coincidence that the post was made around the same time that Kardashian announced a blockbuster collaboration between her SKIMS clothing brand and Nike.
The shapewear entrepeneur announced the partnership on Instagram, writing: “Introducing NikeSKIMS. A new brand coming this spring for the body obsessed. Designed to sculpt and engineered to perform.”
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According to a press release, NikeSKIMS “will disrupt the global fitness and activewear industry with best-in-class innovation in service of all women athletes.”
Kardashian also pledged her allegiance to her ex-husband’s former business partners by posting a (seemingly computer-generated) image of her Nike employee badge.
Adidas are usually the sportswear company at the sharp end of Kanye West’s social media rants.
West, who had a lucrative partnership with the German brand until an acrimonious split in 2022 after he made numerous antisemitic comments, began the year by calling out his former Yeezy partners.
“When you google Yeezy.com the adidas site comes before the Yeezy site. Members at adidas Stop doing this. Stop doing your moves to hold me back,” he wrote on Instagram, accusing the company of adopting shady SEO practices.
“Our partnership is done. You’re a 60 billion dollar company that froze my accounts. Now I’m back on my feet (no pun intended) and I’m not going to stand for this (no pun again).”
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“I did phenomenal work for you guys and because I stood up for myself yall tried to intimidate and oppress me everyone remembers I had major issues with adidas because of design theft and oppression before ‘the tweet,’” he added, referring to his infamous threat to go “death [sic] con 3 on Jewish people.”
“It’s Yeezy over everything Everyone that ever took a picture next to me that had their own clothing lines and agendas everyone knows they was acting like they were my friends to promote they weak ass fake Yeezy lines.”
