Following Ye's controversy, Adidas to sell remaining Yeezy sneakers
German sportswear giant Adidas has announced that it plans to sell off its remaining Yeezy sneaker inventory, a result of its terminated partnership with rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye, at the cost price or higher. Their collaboration ended in 2022 after West brought doom upon himself for making several antisemitic remarks on social media. Despite the partnership's end, Yeezy sneakers continue to be in high demand.
Why does this story matter?
The controversial rapper, fashion designer, entrepreneur, songwriter, and record producer Ye was earlier associated with Adidas's rival Nike, but their partnership came to an end in 2013. Soon after, he got connected with Adidas as they jointly launched their first Yeezy shoe together in 2015—a partnership that contributed largely to making West a billionaire. In October 2022, Adidas terminated its partnership, saying, it "does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech."
This is what Adidas aspires to do with Yeezy
Adidas faced a €1B ($1.08B; £850M) loss due to currency fluctuations and the discontinuation of the Yeezy line. To reduce excess stock, it lowered prices for wholesalers. However, the company reported an operating profit of €268M in 2023 and anticipates nearly doubling that amount in 2024. CEO Bjørn Gulden stated in a press release, "The improvement is due to the better operating business of around €100M and the decision to not write off €268M of Yeezy inventory."
Adidas has only discarded broken inventory
Gulden added, "Our consumer, retail, and trade research has shown that we can sell this remaining inventory in 2024 for at least the cost price. [So], we've only written off inventory that was either damaged or [broken]." Notably, after Adidas broke ties with Ye, it was left with unsold sneakers worth approximately around €1.2B. Then, last year, it sold €750M worth of Yeezy merchandise, donating some profits to Anti-Defamation League and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change.
Ye and his controversies: What does antisemitism exactly mean?
U.S. Department of State defines antisemitism as "Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews." "Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities." In simple terms, it refers to comments/actions against the Jewish community, something Ye has been accused of multiple times.
Take a look at some of his controversial comments
Ye posted on X in 2022, "I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE. The funny thing is I actually can't be anti-Semitic because black people are Jews also... you guys have toyed with me and tried to blackball anyone who opposes your agenda." On another occasion, while speaking to radio show host Alex Jones, Ye reportedly denied the Holocaust and said, "We have to control the history books [and the banks] and we have to go and kill people."
