Kanye West’s adidas sneakers may become the new “Banned” Jordan 1s. The NFL is banning players from wearing the shoes on the field.
Adidas caused a stir this past weekend when they laced some of the NFL players they endorse with exclusive Yeezy cleats.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKHBphPjPez/?taken-by=vonmiller&hl=en
Super Bowl champion and Denver Broncos player Von Miller posted a pair of his Yeezy 750s on Instagram, but he never wore his in a game.
However, Houston Texans wide receive DeAndre Hopkins wore his Yeezy 350s and he got in some trouble for it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKOvUdFAJ2b/?taken-by=deandrehopkins&hl=en
Hopkins tells USA Today that he was fined $6,000 for wearing the shoes. NFL guidelines say that all shoes worn during games are to have a solid base color. It’s not exactly clear if the NFL is banning all Yeezys or just the 350s. The 750s seem to meet the solid color base requirements.
Regardless, with the multi-colored and patterned shoes only costing $250 in stores, that sounded like bad math to Hopkins, who says that he will be retiring the shoes unless Kanye wants to pay the fine himself.
Kanye hasn’t volunteered to do that yet, however adidas may step up. According to sneaker reporter Nick DePaula of The Vertical, the big wigs at the three striped brand has a plan in place to foot the bill for any fines their players accrue.
https://twitter.com/NickDePaula/status/776560125540577285
If this happens, adidas stands to gain some footing in sneaker world that remains dominated by Nike. Nike pretty much built it’s company off storytelling, with one of the first being the story of how Michael Jordan’s black and red Jordan 1s were banned by the NBA. If adidas can flip the Yeezy controversy the same way, they may have a big win.
Photo: Instagram
