German sportswear giant Adidas cut off ties with Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) following the rapper’s countless controversial antics — a decision that might cost the company half a billion dollars. Yeezy sneakers, a result of the collaboration between Ye and Adidas, have been a roaring success, accounting for 7% of Adidas’ total profits in 2022 alone (with sales closing in on upwards of 1.7 billion euros). However, with the recent burning of bridges, the company is currently sitting atop a mountain of unsold Yeezys, now facing a whole new challenge — to sell them without Ye’s brand name.
The unsold Yeezys are reportedly worth half a billion dollars, or $530 million, to be exact. However, the challenge of selling these might not be Adidas’ biggest problem at the moment. With Ye and Yeezy’s bringing in such large profits for the sneaker company, losing them could be like losing the golden goose.
Adidas seems to be hinging a large part of its business and profits on Ye and his brand name. With that gone, the company stands plenty to lose. That explains why Adidas was one of the last few brands to sever ties with the now-infamous artist.
With the company no longer permitted to use Ye’s name to sell Yeezys, unofficial reports are coming in about how the company is already coming up with new strategies to sell the sneakers — even going as far as setting a date for the rerelease of the “new Yeezys.” Except this time around, the same sneakers will reportedly be called Adidas 350 V2 “Granite.”