Kanye West files trademarks for Donda Sport clothing brand
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Kanye West files trademarks for Donda Sport clothing brand

Kanye West has filed for trademarks for his Donda Sport clothing and accessories brand amid business expansion efforts. 

According to a report from TMZ issued over the weekend, the US rapper’s company Mascotte Holdings has filed trademarks for clothing items including jackets, hats, shirts, shoes and a host of accessories including blankets, wallets and umbrellas.

Another trademark reportedly filed was for ‘Dove Sports’, a new brand that will be used for “athletic services such as training sessions, competitions, tournaments, camps, seminars, field trips and even traditional educational frameworks.”

The news comes after West (Ye) announced new plans to go solo in his future fashion ventures earlier last week. In a new Bloomberg interview, the rapper yearned for solo endeavours alongside his biggest corporate collaborators. These include opening his own Donda campuses nationwide, which will welcome shopping, schools, farms, and dorms to an integrated facility. Merchandise sold at the campuses will be designed by existing Yeezy staff, unique to Yeezy’s current physical and online shops.

“It’s fine. I made the companies money. The companies made me money. We created ideas that will change apparel forever,” West said in the interview. “Like the round jacket, the foam runner, the slides that have changed the shoe industry. Now it’s time for Ye to make the new industry. No more companies standing in between me and the audience.”

Following the Bloomberg interview, West followed his word by terminating his partnership with fashion giant Gap. West’s lawyers sent a letter to Gap notifying them of the rapper’s intentions to formally sever ties with it after having signed a 10-year collaboration back in 2020. The letter claimed that Gap had failed to meet the terms of its contract.

Nicholas Gravante, one of West’s lawyers, elaborated on the new business move in a statement to Pitchfork. “Gap left Ye no choice but to terminate their collaboration,” Gravante wrote, “because of Gap’s substantial noncompliance.” According to West’s legal team, Gap failed to deliver on its obligation to sell 40 per cent of the rapper’s Yeezy Gap items in physical stores and failed to arrange for retail stores to be opened in dedication to his products by mid-2023.

The partnership proved problematic from the off, with West’s expressed anger at not being invited to the company board. “I don’t have a board seat at Gap,” West wrote on Twitter in 2020, “Black board seats matter.”