Ye’s first Donda merch was one shirt, with his mother’s photo on the back

Ye stood alone on the floor of Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on 22 Jul 2021, in a red Yeezy Gap puffer, face covered. He played Donda to a paying crowd and an Apple livestream. The album wasn’t out, and it wouldn’t be for weeks. The merch was out that night.

Or one piece of it was. Guests posted the merch table to Reddit and Twitter, and Highsnobiety reported it had a single item on display: an earthy long-sleeved T-shirt. It’s the first thing Ye sold for the album named after his mother, and he put her face on it.

A stadium, not a car

The front’s plain. There’s a Mercedes-Benz star, with DONDA 7.22.2021 and MERCEDES-BENZ STADIUM ATLANTA underneath: the venue, not the car. Highsnobiety pointed out the old College Dropout merch had a big Mercedes logo too, and that’s about all the two share.

Donda West on the back

The back’s the point. A childhood photo of Donda West sits in the middle. Around it, on the shirt itself, there’s more: family photos, a handwritten note and a clipping from Chicago State University’s student paper, headlined “Dr. Donda C. West Appointed Chair”. A small block of text dates it all to the listening event.

Reportedly $120, and reportedly for charity

Highsnobiety said retail was reportedly $120, and there were rumours it’d be free to seatholders. Redditors spotted that merch payments went to DreamChasers Atlanta, which Highsnobiety read as Ye giving the profits to charity, though it said that wasn’t entirely clear.

By the second Atlanta event on 5 Aug 2021 the merch had changed hands, and it wasn’t subtle about it. Highsnobiety called the new pieces Demna-designed: black long sleeves with a Star of David and a cross, reading DONDA 8/5/2021, at $100 each and, it said, made in the USA.

Demna’s shirts came with a designer’s name attached. The first one just had Donda’s.