As the month of February comes to a close, itās impossible to ignore the amount of space Kanye West has taken up in our newsfeeds*. It would seem that Mr. West is back at the centre of popular culture and doesnāt plan to leave anytime soon. Earlier this month, Kanye West released his three-part documentary, Jeen-Yuhs, with Netflix and announced that he would be releasing a new album, Donda 2. As a follow-up to those two gigantic deliveries from the artist, West has also released the first capsule collection of his Yeezy GAP x Balenciaga collection. The capsule included eight new apparel pieces, from t-shirts to denim to the faded black Yeezy GAP Engineered by Balenciaga Dove Hoodie, which is this weekās StockX Pick of the Week.
The hoodie gives off a similar vibe as the Yeezy GAP Hoodies originally released last year. Like 2021ās Yeezy GAP Hoodies, the version released in collaboration with Balenciaga features an oversized but cropped fit. New to the Yeezy GAP partnership as a part of this collection is the inclusion of the GAP logo, which is presented prominently, in a faded fashion, on the chest of the hoodie. The back of the Yeezy GAP Engineered by Balenciaga Hoodie features a white printed Dove graphic on it, calling back to Kanyeās pronounced Christian beliefs.Ā
Last year, when Kanye West began to release merchandise for his 2021 album, Donda, the apparel was delivered with the messaging that it had been āEngineered By Balenciaga.ā The same messaging has been used for this Yeezy GAP release, meaning that the Kering-owned fashion brand had some role in the creation of these pieces, though that role has not been made explicit. Regardless, the hoodie features the same double-layer construction as the original hoodies do, though the price point is significantly higher. The Yeezy GAP Engineered by Balenciaga Hoodie was made in the USA from a 100% cotton material and unlike the original hoodies, each individual hoodie is separately treated, meaning theyāll all look at least a little bit different from one another.
The Yeezy GAP Engineered by Balenciaga partnership was announced earlier this year, in January of 2022. The official announcement was delivered shortly after the debut of a recent Yeezy GAP commercial, which originally ran during the NCAA College Football Championship. The partnership compounds on the intersection of the styles of both Kanye West and Balenciaga Creative Director, Demna Gvasalia, who West is extremely fond of. Featuring predominantly black apparel items that have been shown in exclusively all-black looks, Yeezy GAP Engineered By Balenciaga is looking like itāll become an avenue of expression for the pairās fondness for casual, utilitarian, and accessible apparel.Ā
With the release of the Yeezy GAP Engineered By Balenciaga collection, fans of the brands face an unsettling, though increasingly more likely reality: that shipping delays may be the norm for this partnership. Despite the fact that this hoodie sold out almost immediately, the GAP website still states that customers can expect to wait four to eight weeks to receive their garments. Unfortunately, this is a far more optimistic situation than those who may have purchased their hoodie elsewhere, like Farfetch, where the pieces arenāt expected to ship until July. When this partnership kicked off last year, there was the possibility that the pre-order system was only going to be utilized for the first few pieces, but as we move forward, itās still being used regularly.
Though this Yeezy GAP Engineered By Balenciaga Hoodie doesnāt officially ship for several weeks, the new release has been added in its entirety to StockX. Check out the hoodie and the rest of the collection below.
* Editorās Note: It should also be mentioned that West has been in recent headlines for other, more personal, reasons that donāt have a direct influence on this release or any others. While that behaviour is worth discussion, we will not be addressing it in this article. – PF
