The launch of Yeezy Season 3 broke all kinds of fashion records: it was held at Madison Square Garden in front of 20,000 people (most of them paying for tickets), watched online by 20 million more, included 1200 extras dressed as Rwandan refugees, and had as its soundtrack the first performance of Kanye's new album. It overshadowed every other show of New York Fashion Week, and pretty much broke the internet. But despite all this, Kanye West is in a spot of financial bother.
Being the greatest artist of all time (his words, not ours) is expensive. Allegedly funding the production of Yeezy's ranges of derelicte inspired athleisure wear, a few other failed attempts at launching his fashion career, producing his albums, and building the Kimye mansion has found Kanye in $US53million of debt.
Intimidated by his mounting bills, Kanye has taken to Twitter to resolve them. Here are his tips on getting out of financial trouble:
- Ask Mark Zuckerberg for a billion dollars.
- Use other people's money, not your own (that's what all rich people do).
- Ask your 19 million Twitter followers to pray for you.
Entirely practical as those are, here are our thoughts on keeping in the black for the rest of us:
- Negotiate the best trading terms you can. Essentially this is delaying your obligations to pay suppliers and manufacturers for as long as possible, and getting as much cash up front as you can from your retailers and distributors. There will always be a gap between when you have to pay the manufacturers and when you get paid by the retailers, but the bigger this gap the more likely you'll go under.
- Don't over-extend. We appreciate that getting a massive order from Net-a-Porter is thrilling, but you will be dropped quicker than John Galliano post anti-Semitic rant if you can't deliver. Make sure you have enough cash (or access to it) to pay your manufacturers.
- Choose manufacturers wisely. Delivering on time is obviously critical, but also do your research into whether your manufacturers will be able to deliver quality product, season after season. It's also clever to have relationships with more than one manufacturer, so you have a back up if your preferred one drops the ball.
We do not disclaim anything about this article. We're quite proud of it really.