Adidas’s final sale as it severs ties with Kanye West
Adidas says it has sold its last remaining pair of Yeezy sneakers, ending a years-long process of parting ways with controversial rapper Kanye West.
Adidas has been trying to put the Yeezy episode behind it since public antisemitic rants by West – now officially known as Ye – forced it to end a highly profitable partnership, denting revenues and driving the company to an annual loss in 2023.
The company has felt the loss of Yeezy particularly in the US, where the shoes were popular.
In results reported on Wednesday (US time), Adidas said North America sales fell 2 per cent in 2024, “solely due to significantly lower Yeezy sales”.
The company started selling off its remaining stock of Yeezy shoes in May 2023, pledging to donate part of the proceeds to organisations combating antisemitism, including the Anti-Defamation League.
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The decision followed a string of controversies surrounding the rapper. As well as antisemitic posts that led to his suspension from some social media platforms, he suggested slavery was a choice and called the Covid-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast”.
He was also criticised for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his Yeezy collection show in Paris.
The controversy has hardly abated since then. Last month, West’s agent, Daniel McCartney, said he had dropped the rapper following dozens of antisemitic messages posted to his reactivated social media accounts and his purchase of a Super Bowl ad to sell swastika T-shirts.
There was also controversy over an appearance at the Grammy Awards by West and his Australian-born wife Bianca Censori. The 30-year-old Australian-born model appeared on the carpet only in a transparent mini-dress, sparking a resurgence of fears she is being controlled by West.
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He responded by saying he had “dominion over my wife”
“THIS AINT NO WOKE AS FEMINIST S–T SHES WITH A BILLIONAIRE. WHY WOULD SHE LISTEN TO ANY OF YOU DUMB A– BROKE B—–T PEOPLE SAY THE RED CARPET LOOK WAS HER DECISION (sic),” the 47-year-old rapper wrote on X.
Despite this, West said Censori still needed his “approval” to wear the controversial outfit.
West has not commented on the Adidas announcement.
Meanwhile, Adidas reported it sold €650 million ($A1 billion) worth of Yeezy sneakers in 2024, making a profit of about €200 million.
That was down from the year before, when the company made €750 million in revenue from Yeezy inventory, generating €300 million in operating profit.
The company had set aside €260 million for charitable donations from the proceeds of Yeezy sales, CEO Bjorn Gulden said.
That amounts to about half of the company’s operating profit from selling its stock of the sneakers in 2023 and 2024.
Of that, €200 million was held in a foundation set up by adidas, while €60 million had already been paid out to charity organisations, Gulden said.
– with AAP
