Kanye vows to make Yeezy eco-friendly
NEW YORK — A few fun facts about Kanye West: He’s running for president in 2024, he recited color psychology to wife Kim Kardashian West as she sat in a morning bath Thursday, and he was fired at 16 for shoplifting at the Gap where he worked.
West let loose with those pearls and more during a surprise appearance before a crowd of about 500 at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival.
Accompanied by Steven Smith, lead designer of West’s shoe brand Yeezy, West dug into the nuts and bolts of the fashion industry. He said he plans to make his manufacturing entirely eco-friendly, moving it all to South and North America in the next two years, including at his 4,000-acre ranch in Cody, Wyoming.
When it comes to big ideas, West called Yeezy the “Apple of apparel,” and he revisited his call for African Americans to not flock to the Democratic Party as a voting bloc and to reject the notion that they’re an en masse consumer demographic.
In conversation with Fast Company senior writer Mark Wilson, West referenced everybody from filmmaker Wes Anderson to Leonardo Da Vinci to Jesus Christ, but the focus was mostly on fashion.
He said he plans to move the industry forward on sustainability, starting with hydroponic, cotton, wheat and hemp farming in Cody, along with searching for ways to make the dyeing process less harmful to the environment.
“Our color is a big signature of the brand, but also dyeing is one of the main things that’s impacting the planet and the fashion industry, so just being responsible from A to Z,” West said.