Adidas Considering ‘Literally Burning’ HALF A BILLION Dollars’ Worth of Yeezy Sneakers in Aftermath of Kanye’s Meltdown
AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File
Adidas’ breakup with troubled rapper Kanye West is going to have a massive, nine-figure price tag, with the German sportswear giant considering “literally burning” half a billion dollars’ worth of merchandise.
When Adidas originally partnered with West, now legally known as “Ye,” the “Yeezy Adidas” apparel line that debuted in 2015 was a massive success, getting snapped up by A-list celebrities and soon raking in over a billion dollars in annual sales just for the Yeezy sneakers alone, and nearly $2 billion a year overall.
But in the wake of West’s catastrophic personal meltdown, posting racist rants and memes online and fraternizing with notorious antisemites like Nick Fuentes, the company cut ties with West and was left with an expensive dilemma: what to do with all the unsold Yeezy merch?
The Washington Post reported that Adidas was sitting on $500 million of Yeezy sneakers, facing a quantity of unsellable merchandise on “a scale unseen in the fashion industry.”
One option being considered was attempting to rebrand the sneakers and sell them at a discount from the previous Yeezy-brand price of about $200 to $600 per pair, with the labeling removed, making them “zombie Yeezys,” as one industry insider described it.
This move comes with legal and public relations risks, as the company would take a financial hit but still be vulnerable to accusations it was profiting from the association with an unrepentant antisemite.
Another option is “literally burning them,” wrote Robb Report’s Tori Latham, but that means the maximum financial hit with zero sales and only the tax write-off. Plus, reported Latham, it’s an “unsavory choice…that comes with loads of negative attention, given the ethical and environmental questions involved in setting millions of dollars’ worth of goods on fire for no real reason.”
The only safe move PR-wise might be to donate the shoes, to areas in Syria and Turkey devastated by the recent earthquakes, for example, or copying a Nike program that chops up donated and unsellable shoes into materials for gym floors and new sneaker soles, but that still means a massive financial hit.
Adidas has yet to announce the fate of the hundreds of millions of dollars of Yeezy sneakers and is expected to take a few more months to make a final decision.
