In the age of new media, we're apparently using Instagram videos as sources of news. Last night, Dame Dash posted a couple of Instagram videos of himself standing next to Kanye West that eventually ended in him saying, "We decided to go buy Karmaloop." And this morning, a bunch of outlets including the reputable Style Dot Com have confirmed this as happening, citing the Dame Dash videos and a tweet from CEO Greg Selkoe about talking to Kanye West. We don't know what the fuck is going, but this is what is currently happening (though, as of now, Style Dot Com have changed their headline to reflect the dubious nature of this story). Just take a look at the videos. Kanye looks pretty fucking disinterested and says about three words.
We spoke to Selkoe earlier this week about the whole situation and he said it "wasn't happening." But in the desperate times Karmaloop is in, maybe he had a change of heart. Or maybe, as he mentioned in another interview with Gear Bottle during his PR tour about Karmaloop's financial disaster, Kanye and Dame are simply among the investors contributing money to the cause.
In reckless Dame Dash fashion, he also tagged a ton of high-fashion brands and magazines, possibly in reference to the fact that Slekoe said this week that he intended to bring the Karmaloop product selection back to a higher, more exclusive arena. Either way, Selkoe also stated in the Gear Bottle interview that no deal could actually take place until the previously mentioned restructuring of the company actually happens. We've reached out to Selkoe to get the inside word, but have yet to hear back.
Meanwhile, we received an email from the founder of a clothing brand stocked at Karmaloop who wishes to remain anonymous that includes leaked internal correspondence received from Selkoe on March 25th and 26th and was apparently sent to brands the company owes money to. In the emails, the company states that every order placed after March 23rd must be legally paid to the brand within a week and that it will happen. The other side of the coin is that any order placed prior to March 23rd at 4:04pm will have to go through an official court process before it's determined what's actually going to happen. The brand received a follow-up email reiterating the same thing. You can sees the emails above.
Who knows if Kanye and Dame are actually doing anything. And, if they are, who knows where that money is going. Hopefully, it will help pay off the many brands who are owed their cut. Either way, we'll keep you posted as we know more.
UPDATE: We've received a statement from Karmaloop and Greg Selkoe regarding the situation: "As we confirmed earlier this week, Kanye and Dame are among several people we've spoken with about Karmaloop. We're having a lot of conversations and seeing intense interest in our brand."
