A few months after the break-up, Adidas seems to have secretly made up with rapper Kanye ‘Ye’ West. They have agreed to sell the remaining Yeezy stock after all.
Painful for both
The split between Adidas and Ye late last year came at great cost to both parties. After the rapper repeatedly made racist and anti-Semitic, the sports brand sacked him. Immediately afterwards, Ye tumbled out of Forbes’ billionaire list, deprived of the huge success of his Yeezy product line.
However, Adidas also felt the consequences of the break-up: it was calculated that the move could cost the brand more than a billion dollars in unsold stock and destruction costs. The label’s share price and credit rating abruptly plummeted.
Clearance sale after all
Now a compromise is said to have been found: there will be no new collaboration or products, but the remaining Yeezy products will go on sale again. Various media outlets report that Adidas will be allowed to continue releasing and promoting the existing designs, but the collection will not be continued.
There is reportedly some 500 million dollars of remaining stock, which the brand can still monetise this way. The deal would also save Adidas from its projected loss this financial year. However, it means that the company ends up in a difficult position: for the brand’s reputation, it is best to dispose of the remaining stock as quietly and unnoticed as possible. On the other hand, the ‘limited edition’ sneakers may well become sought-after (and pricey) collectors’ items.
