Kanye West filed to trademark "YZYSPLY" for retail stores, suggesting that his Yeezy shoes and clothing could soon be sold at brick-and-mortar locations.
According to TMZ, Kanye West and his legal team have applied to trademark "YZYSPLY" for retail shops, online ordering services, and online retail store services. The rapper used the moniker "Yeezy Supply" for his apparel business, but the latest move apparently includes shirts, socks, caps, visors, G-strings, tennis gear, headwear, and footwear.
Kanye already has a 10-year agreement with GAP for his Yeezy line, which starts in June 2020, but the rumor says he may open his own stores at some time. Kanye West claimed in a 2015 interview with Vanity Fair that owning his own business had been his lifelong goal.
“I’ve already embraced the moment when I finally get to have my own store, which was always a dream of mine,” he said at the time. “So even though we do really amazing sales online, my dream is just to have my own store. And to have multiples of it.”
Kanye West was recently sued for $400,000 by fashion rental agency David Casavant Archive, which claimed he owed them unpaid fees for unreturned clothes.
According to the lawsuit, Kanye stopped paying rental fees for 13 "unique, respected items." The firm claims to have worked with Kanye since 2014. Its clients include Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga, Tom Brady, Pharrell, 21 Savage, and Solange.
According to David Casavant Archive, he rented 49 works in February/March 2020 and returned 36 with no problems, but the other 13 were no longer being paid for by the end of October 2020.
Kanye apparently no longer pays for designer pieces from Helmut Lang, Raf Simons, and Ann Demeulemeester, with the firm alleging he owes more than $221,000 in unpaid rental costs and would need to pay an extra $195,000 in replacement fees for the unreturned items.