Source: Mark Brown / Getty
As the world now knows, Kanye West went on an antisemitic tear some months back that ultimately cost him his deal with adidas. He partnered with the German company on his Yeezy brand which helped make him a Forbes-vetted billionaire.
adidas had to write down over a billion dollars worth of debt once Yeezys became unsellable, something that downgraded West’s financial standing as well. But now, adidas and West have the chance to make some of those losses up, as Yeezy quietly dropped new sneaker releases in the spring.
On May 31, adidas dropped 15 different styles of Yeezys including some coveted ones like the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 CMPCT “Slate White” the Yeezy Boost 350 “Pirate Black,” and the Yeezy Foam RNR “MX Cinder.”
The Financial Times reports that orders for 4 million pairs of Yeezys netted the company $565M. Despite his execrable remarks, West still receives a royalty from those sales.
The brand previously announced that it would donate some of the profits from the Yeezy brand to five organizations in the U.S. and China that combat hate, racism, and violence. One of them is the Philonise and Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change established by George Floyd’s brother and his wife. In one of his most-publicized rants, Ye said that Floyd wasn’t murdered but instead died of a fentanyl overdose.
“Burning is not the solution,” adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said in May. “What we are trying to do over time is to sell part of these goods and then donate to organizations that help us and that also have been hurt by Kanye’s statements.”
adidas has not yet determined how the charity money will be distributed. One thing that is certain is that the once-lucrative partnership caused the company to have its first unprofitable year in three decades. The sales were referenced by sources as better than the company’s “most optimistic” projections, per FT, which helps but doesn’t completely offset their loss. The company will release its quarterly results on Aug. 3.
That’s right around the time they are expected to make another drop of styles including the Yeezy Boost 350 V2, the Yeezy 500, the Yeezy Boost 700, the Yeezy Slide, the Yeezy Foam RNNR, the QNTM, the Yeezy 450.
After an outcry over West’s behavior, adidas ended its partnership with Yeezy in November 2022. West has yet to make a public comment on the new drops.
Kanye West Made Over $80 Million From Recent adidas YEEZY Drops was originally published on cassiuslife.com
