Nur Abbas is headed to Yeezy.
The former design director for Nike ACG, who has previously had stints at Gucci and Louis Vuitton, will be taking over Yeezy, reporting to Kanye West directly.
Kanye has previously shown his admiration for ACG, rapping on “Life of the Party”, a song from Life of Pablo, his 2016 album, “I might hire the whole team from ACG.”
By appointing Nur Abbas, Ye has remained true to his word.
“I’m energized to work with Ye because he cares so deeply about design and moving culture forward,” Abbas told WWD. “At Yeezy and Gap, I’ve met some of the most talented people and teams, and I’m looking forward to working with them all to extend this new creative vision to the world.”
Abbas, of French origin, started off as the assistant designer at Maison Margiela back in 2002 before moving to Gucci in 2004, then Louis Vuitton as Senior Menswear Designer in 2006, where he remained for nearly 10 years.
Nur Abbas then jumped to Head Designer, Menswear at Uniqlo for a year before moving to Nike and heading both Nikelab Apparel and Nike ACG, the last of which he served as Design Director for starting in Nov 2020.
In his new role, Abbas “will work to further expand the Yeezy empire, working directly with Ye to direct and launch special projects for the Yeezy brand,” the brand said.
The Kingston University graduate will oversee all of Yeezy’s projects, including those with Adidas, Gap, and the Stem Player clothing line, as well as all West merchandise.
Previously, Abbas has prioritized issues such as sustainability with products at ACG.
“Sustainability was our first filter for materials used in this collection, but we didn’t compromise the identity of ACG style or attitude; wearers can continue to be protected from the elements when exploring awe-inspiring nature, or even wear the apparel beyond a weekend in the outdoors”, explained Nur Abbas to Numero Berlin.
He echoed that sentiment to Techunter.
“This is a joint effort and there’s a common goal for everyone on the planet. Hopefully what we’re doing inspires other brands to work on more sustainable practices, in the same way that we’re looking to other brands that are already making an effort to have more sustainable practices. This is an area that we’re happy that everyone is making progress” said Abbas.
Abbas also has an expertise in outdoorswear–which could signal a similar move for Yeezy.
“We’d like to do it all! We want ACG to be the best for the most people in the outdoors. If something works for the most extreme conditions, it usually means that it’s extremely specialized and not so versatile for most conditions. The snow suit someone uses in the coldest parts of Siberia isn’t going to be that useful for many conditions you’d encounter in the wilderness. Having a versatile layering system using fabrics that are proven to work is going to take you all the way in many more places!” Abbas told Techunter.
Aside from Nur Abbas, an insight into Kanye West’s recent Netflix documentary
Netflix recently dropped part one of a trilogy of documentaries about Kanye West, shedding new light on the iconiclastic musician and fashion entrpereneur like nothing has before.
The documentary is revalatory, spotlighting a man who no one will believe in that due to his own self confidence and legitimate genius wills himself into becoming the biggest musician of the century so far. It’s a treasure trove of footage from the past 21 yers, including his career in music and fashion, as well as his unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign, and the death of his mother Donda West.
It’s called jeen-yuhs (read: genius), and it’s brought to us by Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Onzah. Netflix reportedly acquired the documentary for $30 million.
Esquire Middle East caught up with Coodie and Chike just as the documentary was set to release. Read and watch our full conversation below: