In collaboration with Kanye West, the industry veteran will direct and launch the brand’s special projects.
In a WWD report, Yeezy has appointed Nur Abbas as its head of design, a design veteran with 20 years of experience.
Yeezy’s special projects will be directed and launched by Abbas along with Kanye West—who reportedly changed his name to Ye in October 2021—with the goal of expanding the Yeezy empire. According to WWD, Abbas will work on a number of West’s projects, including Adidas, Gap, and a clothing line dubbed Stemwear that is linked to West’s Stem Player music device.
Since October 2016, Abbas has served as a design director and lead designer for NikeLab Apparel. Prior to that, he held a design director role within Nike ACG.
From March 2006 to October 2015, he was the senior menswear designer at Louis Vuitton.
Additionally, Abbas has worked for Uniqlo, Gucci, Griffin Studio, and Maison Margiela. Since West signed a deal with Adidas in 2013, which was extended in 2016 in a move called the “most significant partnership between a non-athlete and an athletic brand” at the time, the Yeezy empire has grown exponentially. In 2015, West released the first Yeezy sneakers with Adidas, and since then, he has made headlines with atypical business moves and partnerships, including signing a 10-year deal with Gap in June 2020, as well as releasing his “Donda 2” album through Stem Player rather than streaming.
