“Adidas to Sell Millions of Unsold Yeezy Sneakers and Donate Profits to Charity After Split with Kanye West”

Adidas has finally tied the knot for the millions of sneakers the brand was left with after it pushed Kanye West aside. The Yeezy sneakers are partly sold and part of the sale goes to a number of charities. This was announced by CEO Bjørn Gulden on Thursday at Adidas’ annual shareholders’ meeting.

Adidas developed the sneakers together with Ye. In October, the company stopped this very lucrative collaboration after anti-Semitic statements by the American rapper.

The brand was then left with a gigantic mountain of Yeezy sneakers worth 1.2 billion euros and it was left with a financial hangover. By cutting the ties with Ye and putting the collection in the fridge, Adidas made a loss for the first time in 31 years. The Yeezy collection accounted for 10 percent of the company’s sales annually, or 2 billion euros.

Boost for Ye

For a moment, Adidas considered destroying the unsold sneakers. But that was particularly sensitive, because it is anything but sustainable. “Burning the products was not a good idea,” Gulden said at Adidas’ annual shareholders’ meeting. “We want to sell some of the stock and donate money to the organizations hurt by Kanye’s statements.”

Gulden could not yet say how Adidas will approach this in concrete terms, which charities are involved and how much money they will receive exactly. ‘But we are working out a plan’. For Ye himself, the decision is in any case a financial boost: the American still receives 15 percent royalties on sales. But it was precisely that commission that initially made Adidas uncomfortable with the sale.

Despite the painful farewell, Gulden also had compliments for Ye at the shareholders’ meeting: “As difficult as he is, he may be the most creative brain in our industry.” The Yeezy sneakers have become even more popular since the split with Ye and have become real collector’s items.