Adidas Will Sell Some Yeezys and Donate Money to Charity — But Kanye West Will Likely Get a Cut

Adidas has finally decided what to do with its $1.3 billion worth of unsold Yeezy sneakers: Sell some of it and donate the proceeds to charity.

Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden announced the plan at the company’s annual shareholders meeting, according to The Associated Press. Gulden said the company had spoken to various organizations and groups harmed by West’s antisemitic and controversial comments last year, adding Adidas will “donate money to the organizations that help us and were harmed by what Ye said.” 

The exact specifics of the plan — like how much of the unsold stock Adidas plans to sell and what they’ll do with the rest of it — weren’t divulged. This plan also likely means that West will receive royalties from the sales. When reached for comment, Adidas shared the text of Gulden’s remarks at the meeting.

Adidas terminated its partnership with West last October in response to the rapper’s erratic behavior and remarks, which included antisemitic talking points and debunked claims about George Floyd’s murder. Since then, the company has been mulling what to do with all its Yeezy stock, with none of the options being perfect. For instance, the company didn’t want to remove any Yeezy branding and then sell the shoes because it would be dishonest; and giving away the shoes would likely lead to a swath of resales on secondary markets.

One option was destroying all the stock, though as Gulden said at the shareholder’s meeting, “Burning those shoes cannot be the solution.”

During the meeting, Gulden also reflected on the overall nature of the Yeezy/Adidas partnership, calling it “sensational.” Though he said West could be difficult, he also praised him as “the most creative person in our industry,” adding: “He created a model with Adidas that was sought after around the world… We lost that in a month.”

Last year, not long after the Yeezy/Adidas partnership ended, Rolling Stone reported extensively on the toxic workplace culture inside the shoe company. One employee reported hearing West say that “skinheads and Nazis were his greatest inspiration,” while a former senior Adidas exec added that they’d heard such comments from West before.

Adidas is also facing a class action lawsuit from shareholders accusing the company of failing to minimize the fallout over the terminated partnership. The lawsuit, filed in Oregon earlier this month, claims Adidas knew as far back as 2018 (when West made his infamous slavery “sounds like a choice” remark) that West’s controversial comments could impact the company’s stock price; but, the suit alleges, Adidas continued to work with the rapper until his antisemitic rants made that relationship untenable. 

Adidas responded to the lawsuit by saying, “We outright reject these unfounded claims.”

From Rolling Stone US.