As we are moving into the seventh year of the adidas and Yeezy partnership, it seems that Kanye West is dealing with the dreaded seven-year itch with the Three Stripes. If you have been following his Instagram (and assuming he does not delete his posts by the time you read this editorial), Kanye has been lashing at adidas for making imitations of his Yeezy products.
There’s the hot debate about whether the adilette 22 ripped off the Yeezy Slides, and recently, the adiFOM Q is being called out as a Yeezy Foamrunner ripoff (even if we do think otherwise).
And the drama does not end with the Three Stripes: it appears that Kanye is not happy with GAP either, accusing the brand of copying his designs under the Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga collaboration. Yes, Kanye is not in a good mood with these brands, and the last time we saw him launch such tirades was when we was with Nike back in the late 2000s.
From all those tirades, Kanye has really bold claims about adidas: that the brand tried to buy him out for $1 billion despite having $500 million in royalties, and that Yeezy sales account for 68% of adidas sales. The latter is crazy, but considering the hype for Yeezys, we think that it is possible. Too bad Mr. West does not get royalties from Yeezy sales in marketplaces like StockX–but don’t give him that idea.
Given that Kanye’s partnership with adidas will last until 2026, it remains to be seen if the Three Stripes will reach out and resolve all of Kanye’s issues. adidas has yet to comment on the matter, so we really don’t know if we’re missing out on anything. Prior to this, Kanye did threaten adidas back in 2020 that he will wear Jordans until he gets a seat on the board–we even don’t know what happened since then.
Given Kanye’s unstable mental health (which was further showcased in jeen-yuhs), we can’t say if whatever he is saying is true at this point. However, one thing’s for sure: Yeezy hype isn’t really dying down entirely despite multiple colorway drops that look very similar to previous colorways. The same can be said with Yeezy GAP, as it’s doing quite an effort in meeting demand via its online and physical stores.
However, the idea of Kanye’s Yeezy brand going independent from adidas and GAP can happen. There’s Donda Sports, and there was an individual Yeezy collection that has been inactive since Yeezy Season 8 back in 2020. So maybe Kanye’s desire for having more creative control over his Yeezy brand would mean him going independent in the long run. After all, the guy’s busy filing patents for Yeezus and YZYSPLY.
Again, we still don’t know the whole picture (up until adidas and GAP speak up on the issue), but it seems like the current Yeezy era is coming to a close–and that everyone should prepare for the new era.
What are your thoughts on the whole drama? Let us know in the comments section!
