A sign advertises Yeezy shoes made by Adidas at a store in Paramus, NJ, on October 25, 2022. After cutting ties with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, Adidas now plans to sell the its stock of unsold Yeezy shoes and gives the income. for charity.
Seth Wenig/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Seth Wenig/AP
A sign advertises Yeezy shoes made by Adidas at a store in Paramus, NJ, on October 25, 2022. After cutting ties with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, Adidas now plans to sell the its stock of unsold Yeezy shoes and gives the income. for charity.
Seth Wenig/AP
Adidas plans to sell its stock of unsold Yeezy shoes and will donate the proceeds to charity, CEO Bjorn Gulden said Thursday.
The German athletics and footwear brand cut ties with Ye, the rapper and fashion designer formerly known as Kanye West, late last year over his anti-Semitic remarks — left the company to figure out what to do with its Yeezy merchandise.
During Adidas’ annual shareholder meeting on Thursday, Gulden said the company spent months mulling over options for what to do with the unsold sneakers, such as talking to various non-governmental organizations, before taking decision.
One of the options included simply destroying the shoes, but the company ultimately decided against it, Gulden said.
“What we are trying to do now over time is to sell parts of this inventory and donate money to the organizations that are helping us and that were also hurt by Kanye’s statements,” he said.
Gulden added that the company is still working on the details of how and when the selloff will take place.
It is unclear if Ye will receive any payments owed to him from the sale of Yeezy stock. Gulden also did not go into detail about which organizations will receive donations.
The latest move by Adidas comes nearly six months after the company severed its ties with the rapper, halting production of Yeezy products and its payments to Ye.
Earlier this month, a group of investors filed a class action lawsuit against Adidas, blaming the company for knowing about Ye’s problematic behavior years before it cut ties with him and ended the collaboration. . Adidas denied the allegations.
In February, Adidas estimated that the decision not to sell existing Yeezy merchandise would reduce the company’s full-year revenue by about $1.28 billion and its operating profit by $533 million. In the first quarter alone, the discontinuation of the Yeezy business cost Adidas nearly $440 million in sales.
