Kanye West is being accused of ripping off a smaller brand’s logo for his new Donda merchandise, after the brand says it sent samples to the star and even met with him to discuss their design process.
On August 5, the 44-year-old rapper held a listening event at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for his new album Donda, which was released later in the month.
For sale at the event were several shirts baring a design featuring a cross inside a Star of David — which looks almost identical to the logo for up-and-coming brand Infinity G8ds.
But this doesn’t appear to be a case of two designers simply coming up with similar ideas: As the people behind Infinity G8ds told The Daily Beast, they had actually sent clothing items to Kanye at the request of someone on his team, and later met with the star to talk about how they came up with the logo — which Kanye himself told them was ‘dope.’
Now the men are calling Kanye out, saying the situation ‘could have been handled differently’ and, at the very least, Infinity G8ds should have been given creative credit.
Called out: Kanye West is being accused of ripping off a smaller brand’s logo for his new Donda merchandise
Merch moment: At an event promoting his album Donda last month, he sold shirts with a cross inside a Star of David
Deja vu! Kanye’s design looks remarkably similar to the logo for up-and-coming brand Infinity G8ds (pictured)
Infinity G8ds creative director Randy Dawkins said the whole saga began in late July, months after the brand had started posting the logo on social media in March.
Their logo features a cross wrapped in an infinity symbol surrounded by a Star of David, and has been printed on shirts, shorts, and sweatpants.
Willie Wallace, Kanye’s executive chef, had reached out to Dawkins and asked him to send samples of their clothing that he could show Kanye.
Dawkins obliged, shipping four pieces from their latest collection.
On July 24, Wallace and Kanye FaceTimed Dawkins to set up a meeting.
‘After receiving the clothes he loved it and asked to meet with us,’ JayShawn Bull, a musical artist who goes by SSO Sneezy and is also involved with Infinity G8ds.
In a video posted on Instagram, Kanye can be heard on the phone call remarking on the clothes, saying: ‘I like this fabric.’
Infinity G8ds’ creative director said that he sent Kanye samples of their designs before these popped up at his event
He’s a fan! Kanye liked these items so much that he set up a meeting with Infinity G8ds, to which they brought more garments
‘He was like, “Bro, I really love your design. It’s really dope,’ creative director Randy Dawkins said
‘I was on the phone directly talking to Kanye,’ Dawkins told the Daily Beast. ‘He was like, “Bro, I really love your design. It’s really dope. When can I meet you to talk about your process” His exact words, he said that he wants to talk to me about my mind.’
Dawkins and Bull were keen to meet with Kanye, so they drove nine hours from Florida to Atlanta, Georgia to meet with Kanye on July 26.
They brought Kanye five more pieces from their collection, and sat down for a 40-minute meeting in his studio at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Dawkins said Kanye asked about the meaning of the logo and seemed to really like what they had to say.
‘He just wanted to understand our process — what does the design represent? We explained it to him and broke it down,’ Dawkins said.
‘He was loving the whole idea, the whole design. He was so intrigued,’ he added. ‘He started to sell us dreams about doing business with him, and that was the meeting.’
Inquisitive mind: Dawkins (pictured) said Kanye was full of questions about their design process
On camera: He also has a recording of them setting up a meeting
Dishonest? The team has documentation of the meeting, during which Kanye made them think there would be a collaboration
Kanye even invited them to stay and eat dinner with him before promising to stay in touch.
But while they never actually heard from the star again, they did get the message loud and clear that Kanye had used their work.
Travis Reece, who is one of Kanye’s personal chefs and also an Infinity G8ds member, was the first to discover the familiar design on Kanye’s Donda merchandise and raised the alarm with Dawkins.
‘[They] never called us, never asked us, never did anything like that,’ Dawkins said.
When Dawkins tried to get in touch with Kanye and his team, he couldn’t — and Reece soon lost his job, according to the Daily Beast.
They have seen raised the alarm on social media
‘We are not the type of people to chase clout but business could have been handled differently,’ Bull said on Instagram. ‘We could at least have gotten our creative credit.’
‘This situation was definitely unfortunate,’ Dawkins said
‘This situation was definitely unfortunate,’ Dawkins echoed. ‘But we have to speak up about it to defend our brand because that could definitely [hinder] us in terms of him putting that out.’
What’s more, Dawkins said it comes as a disappointment because they’d all looked up to Kanye.
‘[He] met with us, [he] had opportunities to say, “Let’s collab in this way, let’s do it that way,” but he didn’t see any reason to involve us in what he wanted to do, and being that we know for a fact that we inspired him to create his Donda merch, I’m disappointed,’ he said.
‘We’re not mad at you, but from one Black artist to another Black artist, he could have said, “I see what you got going on, let’s help you gain some exposure, some visibility.” That’s all we ask.’