Adidas Will Sell Unsold Yeezy Merchandise and Donate Proceeds
After cutting ties with the artist formerly known as Kanye West last year, adidas knew that the product Ye helped produce, the Yeezys, would place them in a financial bind. With over a million pairs of the popular unsold sneakers doing nothing but collecting dust, the company has decided to sell the remaining stock and donate the proceeds.
According to Fortune, adidas CEO Björn Gulden told investors at the annual shareholder meeting on Thursday what their plans are for the Yeezy products currently in supply. The company will sell the product and donate to non-governmental charities that support them and also organizations that have been affected by the anti-semitic statements spewed by Ye last year.
After contemplating how they would get rid of the merchandise, they negated one solution that was suggested, which would have been burning them.
“What we are trying to do over time is to sell parts of these goods and then donate to organizations that help us and that also have been hurt by Kanye’s statements,” Gulden stated to the investors at the meeting held in Fuerth, Germany. “Burning is not the solution.”
After being in a successful business relationship with Ye for nearly 10 years, since 2013, adidas cut ties with the controversial music producer after he made anti-semitic statements about the Jewish community.
Last year, after Ye appeared on the since-deleted Drink Champs podcast on Revolt, he dared the apparel company to act when he stated, “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”
They called his bluff shortly after those statements were recorded.
BBC News reported that Ye will still receive royalties off the sales under the terms of the partnership. It was also reported that after the news of the selling of the remaining stock, shares in adidas were up 2%.
The company also severed its partnership deal with Beyonce and her Ivy Park line after five years of doing business together. BLACK ENTERPRISE reported earlier this year in February that sales for Ivy Park dropped drastically by 50%. The clothing line brought in $93 million in 2021, yet, the next year, the brand only brought in $40 million.
Adidas Will Sell Unsold Yeezy Merchandise and Donate Proceeds
