Adidas decided to team up with controversial rapper Kanye “Ye” West again and try to sell the $500 million worth of leftover Yeezys.
With the renewed partnership, the only focus is to get rid of the remaining sneakers in 2023, meaning there will be no talk of new clothing or shoe designs.
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Adidas and Ye’s renewed partnership came about four months after the shoe brand announced it would end its ties with the “Donda” rapper (October 25). The company acknowledged that it would lose billions due to severing relations with the music mogul. However, the company realized that they were losing more money than anticipated. It was initially said that separating from Ye would cost the company $250 million in profit and $500 million in lost revenue. But the company reported that the company expected an operating loss of $700 million in 2023.
“The numbers speak for themselves. We are currently not performing the way we should”, Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said. “2023 will be a year of transition to set the base to again be a growing and profitable company. We will put full focus on the consumer, our athletes, our retail partners and our Adidas employees.”
Gulden continued, “Together, we will work on creating brand heat, improve our product engine, better serve our distribution and assure that Adidas is a great and fun place to work. Adidas has all the ingredients to be successful: A great brand, great people, fantastic partners and a global infrastructure second to none. We need to put the pieces back together again, but I am convinced that over time we will make Adidas shine again. But we need some time.”
As vocal as Ye was on social media, he hasn’t said anything on his social accounts about the partnership.
