Gap Bets It All on Yeezy
This week, everyone will be talking about Gap’s earnings (and any clues about its upcoming Yeezy line), the return of vacation travel and hopes for a rebound in makeup sales.
HERE COMES KANYE
- Gap Inc. releases quarterly results on May 27
- The company has said its flagship brand’s Yeezy line is on track to launch by the end of June
- Gap is counting on its Kanye West partnership to revive sagging sales
This may be the week we finally get some details on one of the biggest experiments in mass retail. Gap has said little about its partnership with Kanye West since announcing the deal nearly a year ago (West, of course, has had plenty to say, though little about the clothes themselves). Gap desperately needs this collaboration to succeed. It’s closed stores, sold brands and cut costs, but that alone won’t begin to reverse two decades of declining sales and fading cultural relevance.
Yeezy is a big, big swing at putting Gap back in the fashion conversation, and the company hasn’t been coy about the line’s importance to the brand’s future. The company expects revenue from the line to top $150 million in 2022, its first full year, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. That projection is, if anything, conservative: Adidas sold $1.7 billion in Yeezy sneakers last year, according to Bloomberg. The difference is that Adidas is one of two brands securely atop the sneaker marketplace. But the basics category grows more crowded by the day and Gap isn’t the only struggling mall brand pinning its future on a high-profile designer.