After all of the tirades and controversies that Kanye West has been involved in–which include antisemitism and hate speech, adidas has finally dropped the ball and announced that they will terminate its partnership with Kanye immediately.
“After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products, and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. adidas will stop the adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”
This means that all adidas Yeezy products will be gone for good, just as how Balenciaga (and several companies) have withdrawn any of their involvement with Kanye.
We don’t know how Kanye West will react to the move, but the decision for adidas to end its Yeezy partnership would mean that we should not expect any more Yeezy products from now on.
While Kanye is “done” with adidas and intends to go solo anyway, the big catch with this development is that adidas owns all the design rights of all Yeezy models and colorways. This is something that will piss off Kanye, but we should know more about adidas’ next moves come November 9, when it will reveal its earnings for Q3.
Will adidas lose money following the decision? The Three Stripes claims that it will have “a short-term negative impact of up to €250 million on the company’s net income in 2022 given the high seasonality of the fourth quarter.”
While adidas admits that this will impact their profits, the biggest loser here is Kanye, as his unreasonable and uncalled-for antics have burned friendships and bridges. The fashion world (and probably everyone else) has turned its backs on Kanye, and we’ll just wait and see what Kanye will do when the whole world is literally against him.
