Discussions about the fashion industry thread

[London]

I agree with you. My point was, he's already proven that a standalone brand under him that's been around since 2015 has been a flop, whereas Adidas Yeezy has been a resounding business and cultural success

He's created millions through music and helped launch many designers and musicians. He can build an independent entity that generates outsized value. There is more talent out there and sources of financing than ever. He just has to put the model together and collaborate with business people smarter than him to do so.

 

[cchen]

He's created millions through music and helped launch many designers and musicians. He can build an independent entity that generates outsized value. There is more talent out there and sources of financing than ever. He just has to put the model together and collaborate with business people smarter than him to do so.

I think we might be talking across each other. Again I agree with you; I think he's a genius creator. But the only standalone fashion business he's done himself has been a flop for 9 seasons.

 

[zissou]

I'd not throw the folks behind the scenes under the bus on the product side. Last minute changes and lots of options(samples) that might work as a creative process in one artistic domain won't benefit apparel when it comes to design for bulk production. The calendar is unrelenting.

But does anyone with management talent actually want to be associated with him? You saw the type of people Trump attracted to his administration where everyone was a grifter or an idiot. I doubt talented sane people want to be associated with that.

An acquaintance of mine works (worked?) on the Yeezy collab at adidas and she said it was a complete disaster every time he stopped by to review designs. They’d put all this time, money, and effort into samples only to have him tell them to throw it all in the trash and start over with a completely different idea. It sounded like a real horror story for all involved.

 

[winston86dit]

Even if he starts something else, where's he going to advertise? Parlor? No one is going to touch that man with a ten foot pole....at least no one who values their other business relationships.
He's a habitual bridge burner, which has even included the people who have been with him from the jump and he's also someone who claims to have an amazing creative vision but lacks any follow through or business acumen (even though he says differently in the public). Not to mention he changes his damn mind at every turn, notorious for dropping entire collections at the last minute, only to start over.

T-shirts and hats, maybe. Anything else...probably not.

 

[Texasmade]

An acquaintance of mine works (worked?) on the Yeezy collab at adidas and she said it was a complete disaster every time he stopped by to review designs. They’d put all this time, money, and effort into samples only to have him tell them to throw it all in the trash and start over with a completely different idea. It sounded like a real horror story for all involved.

Working with a creative genius is cool and all until you actually have to work with them.

If you're in accounting/law/ or whatever business profession supporting his brand and you're telling Ye "No, you can't do this. It's against the law/accounting regulations/ or whatever" and he tells you "I'm Ye!!! I do what I want", are you really going to deal with that? Unless he pays a **** ton up front, smart people are going to avoid that.

 

[Zamb]

All he needs is good management talent around him. They don't only exist in corporations. There is plenty of that available. He will attract design and creative talent.

Listen to me and listen to me very carefully.
He is done, there is no coming back from this. you seem to have some kind of impossible hope.........

I saw this coming from afar, and to me its not surprising.
Kanye is a narcissistic megalomaniac who is basically seeking power through self created victimhood, and it has now caught up with him

you are taking about a man who is not physically or mentally sick, but SPIRITUALLY sick and seem to lack the one component that would help him to recover. HUMILITY

this isn't like Galliano, who said some things that could be excused through drunkenness, paid a heavy price for it, but when to rehab, was contrite and repentant and was given a second chance at Margiela after even losing his own brand.

The fundamental difference is Galliano's repentant attitude and the fact that He was a legitimate fashion creative.

Kanye lacks the personal discipline to create an actual Fashion/ Clothing brand and the one thing that made him valuable to Gap/ Balenciaga/ Adidas or any other brand was his marketability and association with other influential creatives. He has lost both of that now

EDITED: damn spelling errors!

 

[msimon]

Kenya has creative talent, you can kindly disagree but everything I have looked at looks like trash and there to sell under a famous name just to be cool for 5 minutes then in the bin. How can any person with self respect wear this crap?.

Sorry had to get that out.

 

[sushijerk]

Listen to me and listen to me very carefully.
He is done, there is no coming back from this. you seem to have some kind of impossible hope.........

I saw this coming from afar, and to be its not surprising.
Kanye is a necessity megalomaniac who is basically seeking power through self created victimhood and it has now caught up with him

you are taking about a man who is not physically or mentally sick, but SPIRITUALLY sick and seem to lack the one component that would help him to recover. HUMILITY

this isnt like Galliano, who said some things that could be excused through drunkenness, paid a heavy price for it, but when to rehab, was contrite and repentant and was goven a second chance at margiala after even losing his own brand.

The fundamental difference is Galliano's repentant attitude and the fact that He was a legitimate fashion creative.

Kanye lacks the personal discipline to create an actual Fashion/ Clothing brand and the one thing that made him valuable to Gap/ Balenciaga/ Adidas or any other brand was his marketability and association with other influential creatives. He has lost both of that now

I agree with your sentiment but Kanye will never be done in the conventional sense. He will always be able to spin out something that by all standards is successful and he still has the fanbase for it along whatever new fans he might be peeling off with his currently ideology. If Alex Jones can have a year where he made 50+ million selling brain boost vitamins then Kanye will never remotely be done commercially.

He is done at the echelons of blue chip companies and mainstream brands and he has definitely peaked at a dizzying high, but he will always be royalty to a terrifying amount of people.

 

[Epaulet]

Listen to me and listen to me very carefully.
He is done, there is no coming back from this. you seem to have some kind of impossible hope.........

I saw this coming from afar, and to be its not surprising.
Kanye is a necessity megalomaniac who is basically seeking power through self created victimhood and it has now caught up with him

you are taking about a man who is not physically or mentally sick, but SPIRITUALLY sick and seem to lack the one component that would help him to recover. HUMILITY

this isnt like Galliano, who said some things that could be excused through drunkenness, paid a heavy price for it, but when to rehab, was contrite and repentant and was goven a second chance at margiala after even losing his own brand.

The fundamental difference is Galliano's repentant attitude and the fact that He was a legitimate fashion creative.

Kanye lacks the personal discipline to create an actual Fashion/ Clothing brand and the one thing that made him valuable to Gap/ Balenciaga/ Adidas or any other brand was his marketability and association with other influential creatives. He has lost both of that now

Totally agree with you Zam. While he'll almost surely be rich until his last days and he can certainly do his own fashion/music/whatever venture, he'll have an impossible time aligning with larger brands and entities. And that was his drive. He lives for mainstream worship and constant validation. He needs to be a victim, and to have some kind of larger entity to rail against.

I can't imagine a worse business partner. Or a worse creative director. Imagine coming to work every day and never knowing whether your $2 billion cash cow is going completely off the rails or not. Who would sign on for that in the future? He'll always have someone with no moral compass to work with, but it won't be those huge brands that he desperately wants approval and subservience from.

 

[Zamb]

I agree with your sentiment but Kanye will never be done in the conventional sense. He will always be able to spin out something that by all standards is successful and he still has the fanbase for it along whatever new fans he might be peeling off with his currently ideology. If Alex Jones can have a year where he made 50+ million selling brain boost vitamins then Kanye will never remotely be done commercially.

He is done at the echelons of blue chip companies and mainstream brands and he has definitely peaked at a dizzying high, but he will always be royalty to a terrifying amount of people.

Yes, because a C63 AMG with a blown motor is still a performance car.
you can repair it, but it will never again fetch the price of a pristine, well cared for example

from here on out, Kanye made himself into a total loss vehicle and any repairs will have the total loss tag and by effect diminished value...............
you can use the example of Mel Gibson to figure out what Kanye might look like, Gibson never fully recovered, and I doubt Ye will either...........

 

[Zamb]

Totally agree with you Zam. While he'll almost surely be rich until his last days and he can certainly do his own fashion/music/whatever venture, he'll have an impossible time aligning with larger brands and entities. And that was his drive. He lives for mainstream worship and constant validation. He needs to be a victim, and to have some kind of larger entity to rail against.

I can't imagine a worse business partner. Or a worse creative director. Imagine coming to work every day and never knowing whether your $2 billion cash cow is going completely off the rails or not. Who would sign on for that in the future? He'll always have someone with no moral compass to work with, but it won't be those huge brands that he desperately wants approval and subservience from.

Ive told people before, you can be completely talented, and an absolute headache to work with.................IF, partnering with you is hugely profitable.
But when you get to a place where you have morphed into a dangerous radioactive isotope, then who wants to deal with that?

 

[London]

An acquaintance of mine works (worked?) on the Yeezy collab at adidas and she said it was a complete disaster every time he stopped by to review designs. They’d put all this time, money, and effort into samples only to have him tell them to throw it all in the trash and start over with a completely different idea. It sounded like a real horror story for all involved.

Yeah. I a friend of mine was a GM who he attacked publicly. With that being said he created a billion dollar brand super fast in the midst of chaos without a real marketing approach.

 

[LA Guy]

Yeah. I a friend of mine was a GM who he attacked publicly. With that being said he created a billion dollar brand super fast in the midst of chaos without a real marketing approach.

That was old Kanye though. People can and do forgive creatives for all sorts of irrational and offensive behavior, but as @Epaulet and @Zamb have stated before, there is a point at which a brand is just dead, wjhen the risk benefit analysis no longe makes any sense, regardless of past success. Kanye is hardly irreplaceable. Even in that same realm, all the talent that he helped to put into the spotlight - FoG, HBA, Off White, whatever team Virgil left behimd both there and at LVMH, would be much more attractive partners, with all the clout and none of the baggage of present day Kanye.

 

[Texasmade]

That was old Kanye though. People can and do forgive creatives for all sorts of irrational and offensive behavior, but as @Epaulet and @Zamb have stated before, there is a point at which a brlo

Uh... what does brlo mean?

 

[London]

That was old Kanye though. People can and do forgive creatives for all sorts of irrational and offensive behavior, but as @Epaulet and @Zamb have stated before, there is a point at which a brlo

Believe me. He ain't done