Adidas said Wednesday that all of the inventory associated with the sportswear brand’s collaboration with Kanye West, popularized by the Yeezy sneaker, has been sold.
The rapper inked a profitable deal — valued at over $1 billion — with Adidas in 2013 that dramatically ended when Adidas severed ties with West, also known as Ye, in October 2022 over his antisemitic comments.
The termination of that partnership impacted the company’s bottom line by over $246 million — “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” they said at the time. “[West’s] recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”
West’s problematic behavior has since continued. In their earnings report, Adidas revealed their efforts to terminate the entire Yeezy collaboration were successful, despite the company losing revenue in the United States throughout 2023 and 2024. North American sales declined by 2%, “solely due to significantly lower Yeezy sales,” according to Wednesday’s report.
“There is not one Yeezy shoe left,” said Adidas chief financial officer Harm Ohlmeyer. “It has all been sold and that episode is behind us.”
According to a report from Forbes, approximately $1.5 billion of West’s net worth was attributed to his partnership with Adidas. The brand began liquidating its remaining stock of Yeezy shoes in May 2023, pledging to donate part of the proceeds to organizations against antisemitism, including the Anti-Defamation League.
West is still utilizing the Yeezy brand name for his own merchandising, including a recent advertisement that ran during the Super Bowl. The spot caused outrage as West has been regularly posting antisemitic messages on his social media while also proclaiming himself to be a nazi — and then began selling a t-shirt with a swastika on the website that had been promoted.
From Variety US