Los Angeles, May 4 (IANS): Rapper Kanye West has been accused of stealing fashion sketches from a former designer of the brand Nike.

West, 40, has been accused of stealing a design blueprint and calling it his own when in actuality it appeared to be an original sketch by former Nike designer Tony Spackman, who currently serves as design director of Givenchy, reports people.com.

It all started when West tweeted the sketch on April 30 with the caption, "This is where a YEEZY study for base layer starts. I'm so excited about our new design team. Yeezy is no longer a fashion company we should be referred to as apparel or clothing or simply YEEZY."

West's tweet caught the attention of Spackman who posted on his Instagram Stories a comparison of his sketches and West's which appeared to be identical.

"When Kanye rips your 10-year-old Nike sketch and claims it," he claimed, adding that West had photoshopped out the title and the date.

Spackman later clarified that the image, which remains on his website, was actually 13 years old, which was "unlucky for some".

Spackman's design was from 2005 for a Nike collection called "Nike React," a running collection grounded in freedom of movement and human comfort, according to Diet Prada, an Instagram account that keeps track of brands "knocking each other off".