Adidas stuck with $500 million worth of Yeezy sneakers after split with Kanye West

Adidas, the German sportswear giant, is now trying to tackle a crisis caused by its partnership with rapper Kanye West. After cutting ties with the star, Adidas is now left with Yeezy sneakers worth €500 million ($530 million). In order to avoid making losses on these shoes, it is attempting to sell them under its own brand. 

This could prove to be a feasible solution for the company; however, whether or not it will be successful remains uncertain in light of the current situation. Adidas had a steady growth in sales this year. Their Yeezy line accounts for a significant amount of the overall profit.

This could be the first rebranded adidas Yeezy… pic.twitter.com/qzmMORuRNi

— Sneaker News (@SneakerNews) December 21, 2022

According to a Financial Times report, Yeezy sales equated to around 7% of total purchases valued at 1.7 billion euros ($1.8 billion).

The Adidas-Yeezy partnership ended in October following a series of antisemitic tweets posted by the rapper on his Twitter account. This caused the world’s leading sportswear giant to take a financial hit, ending up costing them $247 million in lost profits. The incident sparked considerable controversy, with many people voicing their outrage on social media.

Adidas Yeezy Shoes

Kanye West’s latest controversial comments have seen multiple companies distancing themselves from the rapper and Yeezy products. Balenciaga, Gap, and Footlocker are among the companies that have decided to remove Yeezy products from their stores and digital platforms in light of the recent backlash.

Adidas is stuck with Yeezy sneakers worth more than $530 million after parting ways with Kanye West, report says https://t.co/xrUbZqkPuU

— Business Insider (@BusinessInsider) December 23, 2022

Last month,  Adidas announced it was launching an investigation into West, known as Ye. This was following a Rolling Stone report detailing various allegations of West’s improper behavior. It involves misconduct when dealing with his private Yeezy staff. 

The reports claim that Kanye West showed inappropriate materials of his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, to his workers in a meeting. According to interviews with over two dozen former Yeezy and Adidas staff, it appears that this behavior has left the workplace in an uncomfortable situation.

According to the Rolling Stone report, a former employee claims they witnessed the rapper tell a woman of color to sit on the floor. This happened during an hours-long meeting. Reports also state that West said  she did not “deserve to sit at the table.”