Source: picture alliance / Getty
Now that adidas is finally unloading the remaining half-a-billion worth of Yeezy merchandise and recouping the money they thought they never would, the three-striped brand is officially done selling anything associated with Kanye “Alt-Right” West.
Days after adidas held their second “Yeezy Day” on their Confirmed app and participating retailers, Retail Dive is reporting that adidas is officially done churning out Yeezy products. On Thursday (Aug. 3), Their CEO, Bjørn Gulden, said that the company is looking to move on from its relationship with the MAGA-supporting rapper.
Rumors were swirling that adidas was going to continue to drop new Yeezy Boosts and Slide colorways without the rapper’s stamp of approval. Now, it seems like adidas thought better of it and is retiring the various Yeezy silhouettes altogether.
Retail Dive reports:
“The Yeezy product is something that he created, he’s the inventor of it and we have been his partner. To take his designs and sell them off later, which we technically legally could do, is not part of our strategy,” Gulden said. “Our task now is to limit the damage, get rid of the inventory, use the proceeds to good … and build a business later without Yeezy.”
Executives said the company made about 400 million euros (about $441 million at the time of publish) worth of sales thanks to the first sale of Yeezy products, which accounted for 20% of its total Yeezy inventory, and got rid of about 100 million euros worth of costs associated with writing the inventory off. Gulden added that the company will continue to gradually sell off its current inventory, but is not making any assumptions about how well it will sell.
“The uncertainty on each of these drops is so big and we don’t want to have people believing that we have sales and profits in the pocket,” Gulden said.
Well, there goes adidas’ popularity out in these Hip-Hop streets. Sure, they can sign all the celebrities and athletes they want. But at the end of the day, it was the Yeezy line that helped propel the brand into a stratosphere they hadn’t seen since Run DMC had everyone rocking shell toes.
As for what Kanye will do now that he’s basically the most toxic celebrity in the game thanks to his antisemitic rants is anyone’s guess. There were rumors that he’d release his own clothing and sneaker line on his own dime, but only time will tell if that actually pans out.
What do y’all think of adidas retiring all things Yeezy? Let us know in the comments section below.
—
Photo: Getty
