Does Kanye West actually design Yeezy?

Kanye is the creative director of Yeezy, not the designer. He does not design the apparel and sneakers himself.

Kanye has the fortune to call the shots in the designing process. If he wanted to design the products himself, he definitely can, as he has designed footwear for Italian shoemaker Giuseppe Zanotti in the past; but since he runs the brand, he can also ask other people to do designs based on his ideas, which he does more often than not.

The current head designer for Yeezy is Steven Smith. He is also the designer of the Reebok Instapump Fury and the New Balance 997, and he is also credited for the design of the 700 sole, the 451, and the Foam Runner, among several others. Ye also worked with designers Mark Smith and Nathan Van Hook in the past.

Kanye and his team have access to the Adidas archives, which is why the Yeezy 500 uses the Adidas KB8 sole, being one of the numerous examples of Yeezy designs. An inside source revealed in an interview that Kanye’s team brings him various designs from which he could select, or ask to reinvent the design or to scrap it altogether. The promotional pictures with hundreds of models lined up, that Yeezy has come to be known for, are often taken on days when Kanye reviews designs to approve or to cancel.

Most designs are supposedly semi-anonymous. Smith and Galway are big enough names at Adidas that they know what they can and can't say. Everyone else presumably also does not take credit for the designs.

What is Yeezy?

Adidas Yeezy was a fashion collaboration between Kanye West and Adidas. It sold limited edition colorways and Yeezy Boost sneakers, as well as shirts, jackets, track pants, socks, slides, women's shoes, lingerie, and slippers. The first shoe model was released in February 2015.

In 2020, Forbes described the rise of Yeezy as one of the great retail stories of the century. A lot of other fashion brands were influenced by Yeezy. In October 2022, the partnership between Adidas and West ended suddenly after West made anti-Semitic statements.

Why did Adidas leave Yeezy?

The partnership between Yeezy and Adidas ended when a video of West, now called Ye, went viral on social media. In the video, Ye is seen disrespecting Adidas by saying that he can say anti-Semitic things. He said, “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what? Now what?”.

Ye had previously made antisemitic comments on a few interviews, specifically on the Drink Champs podcast and on Piers Morgan Uncensored, which triggered this statement.

How much is Yeezy’s current net worth?

The brand was worth between $3.2 billion and $4.7 billion in 2021. The Bank of America anticipated that future royalties between Adidas and Yeezy would range from 1.75 billion to 3 billion dollars. However, Ye's overall net worth decreased by $1.5 billion after the Yeezy and Adidas partnership came to an end in October 2022. He does, however, continue to receive a cut of Yeezy sales because he fully owns the company.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Kanye's net worth is estimated to be $500 million as of September 2023. According to a Forbes report, Yeezy's value has dropped from $5 billion at the height of the collaboration to $1.3 billion at the moment.