Sneaker News The ugliest split in the history of the sneaker industry is now officially behind us. adidas has confirmed in its most recent earnings call that every remaining pair of Yeezy has been sold off, officially wiping their hands clean of the forever-tainted era.
“There is not one Yeezy shoe left,” said Adidas chief financial officer Harm Ohlmeyer. “It has all been sold and that episode is behind us.”
A once formidable and highly profitable union that shook the core of the lifestyle sneaker industry, Kanye West was solely responsible for boosting adidas to relevancy in the US market in the 2010s, all while skyrocketing his own net worth as. adidas Yeezy shoes were a global hit, stealing market share from other sportswear brands such as Nike and Jordan for its modern design and comfort-driven build.
Yeezys were a massive hit in the reseller market as most pairs often commanded above the MSRP. Towards the end of the partnership, things tapered downwards due to redundancy in product offerings and the lack of desirability in the newer designs.
The beginning of the end came in 2022 when West first made headlines with anti-semitic comments and other problematic behavior. This led adidas to officially cut ties at the end of October 2022, vowing to liquidate remaining Yeezy product at a loss and donating proceeds to charity. This began a very public and messy split that resulted in Kanye publicly deriding his former partner on social media and his global music tours.
Doubling down on his views, Ye further ostracized himself with hateful speech and highly controversial publicity stunts that involved a Super Bowl ad and a t-shirt with a swastika. This forced Shopify, the platform that was hosting the Yeezy.com e-commerce site, to shut down Ye’s business.
The future of Kanye West’s Yeezy ventures remain unclear, although he did announce brick-and-mortar Yeezy stores.
