At the sportswear brand’s annual meeting Thursday, Adidas confirmed that rather than destroying remaining Yeezy merchandise, it will sell it and donate the proceeds to charity. The announcement comes nearly six months after Adidas terminated its partnership with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, after he made a series of remarks rooted in white supremacy and antisemitism.
Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden has stated that the company spent months considering its options for the unsold shoes, including destroying them. Now, the company is ready to move forward by selling off the remaining inventory. “What we are trying to do now over time is to sell parts of this inventory and donate money to the organizations that are helping us and that were also hurt by Kanye’s statements,” said Gulden.
Gulden did not say where and how the unsold merchandise (which reportedly holds a market value of $1.3 billion) will be sold, or which organizations will actually receive the donations. However, he did say that Adidas is still “working out the details” of the sale.
With the sale, the company will be able to recoup some of the money lost when it cut ties with West, and will also be able to do good. The sale and charitable component could boost Adidas’ image, which took a big hit when it didn’t immediately sever ties with the entertainer following his antisemitic rants. Over a dozen brands, who also had business ties with the rapper, including Balenciaga and Gap Inc, have also distanced themselves from West after his public statements.
Both Adidas and the Yeezy brand took a hit since their partnership ended. In the first quarter of 2023 alone, the discontinuation of the Yeezy business cost Adidas nearly $440 million in sales. Earlier in May, a group of investors filed a class-action lawsuit against Adidas, claiming the company knew about West’s problematic behavior for years before they finally decided to cut ties with him and ending their collaboration last year.
Also included in the annual meeting was the news that an independent investigation into Ye’s alleged workplace misconduct found the claims were unsubstantiated. Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said, “The allegations are not accurate, the [legal] proceeds are still in the early stages and we will defend ourselves against these accusations.”
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