Kanye West is still getting backlash from his controversial 2022 interview on Drink Champs, during which the music producer made antisemitic statements, which he also made on social media.
At the time, sportswear giant Adidas severed ties with him, ending a longstanding and highly profitable partnership. Several months later, with sales dropping after discontinuing West’s Yeezy brand, Adidas executives decided to sell the remaining supply of Yeezys. This lead to a windfall for the sneaker company, boosting its sagging bottom line.
According to Complex, an internal memo from Adidas revealed that the company has decided to postpone the expected November release of Yeezys. Sources have speculated that the sale of the popular sneakers has been paused due to the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel.
“As a brand we will not do a new drop for the remainder of the year both for our internal e-com and retail as well as wholesale,” the internal message reads. “We will not be shipping out any new stock, this direction was given at the board level.”
Adidas was expected to release another set of Yeezys, “Bone,” “Onyx,” and “Zebra” colorways of the Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2. Also, Adidas’ Yeezy 500 and 700 models were supposed to go on sale.
Business Insider reported that the sports brand received orders worth 508 million euros ($564 million), when the company reversed its decision to destroy the remaining supply. Adidas initially planned to write the Yeezy product off for $500 million. Shareholder pressure made the company change direction earlier in 2023.
After Adidas had been in a successful business relationship with Ye for almost 10 years he dared the apparel company to act when he said, “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”
That led to Adidas seemingly calling Ye’s bluff and terminating the contract.
RELATED CONTENT: Adidas Donates Yeezy Sales To Anti-Hate Organizations
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