This German apparel and footwear company revealed that it will be selling its remaining Yeezy stocks and donating the proceeds to various charities that rapper Kanye West has “hurt.”
Yeezy is a name that many sneaker aficionados are familiar with. Designed by Kanye West (who now goes by the name “Ye”), the shoe line gained immense popularity since 2015 and even a cult following of sorts. Every new release from the collection was met with excitement by collectors, especially valuable limited edition items like the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 “Zebra” (with its resell price of $1,600).
Unfortunately, Adidas, the company that Kanye collaborated with, broke ties with the artist last October due to public backlash from his anti-semitic comments online. This resulted in a hefty $655 million worth of financial losses for the company. The significant number is to be expected, as Yeezy was one of Adidas’ most lucrative lines, with an estimated revenue of $1.7 billion in 2020.
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Making Amends
As a result of the partnership’s termination, a large stock of Yeezy shoes—worth $1.3 billion—have remained in Adidas’ storage. The company has been contemplating what to do with the remaining sneakers.
Company leaders initially considered burning them, but decided against it due to sustainability issues. They also thought about stitching a rebranded label on the shoes, but opted not to, as it didn’t “feel honest” according to company CEO Björn Gulden.
The company decided that the best course of action would be to sell the stock and donate proceeds to various organizations that were affected by West’s hurtful comments. The company hasn’t revealed the names of the specific charities, or the percentage of the proceeds to be donated, but seem firm in their commitment to see their plan through.
“I can promise you that the people that have been hurt by this will also get something good out of it and get donations and proceeds in different ways, shapes or forms,” shared Gulden.
Although it will take some time for the company to recover from their losses, the CEO believes that they can make Adidas “shine again.”
“2023 will be a year of transition to set the base to again be a growing and profitable company,” explained Gulden.
Banner photo via Instagram @yeezymafia.
