Kanye West’s collab with Adidas has officially ended now that the footwear giant unloaded remaining inventory after a contentious split.
Adidas finally closed the Yeezy chapter after selling its last pair of the controversial Kanye West-designed sneakers on Wednesday (March 5), marking the end of a turbulent saga that cost the sportswear titan dearly.
Rewind to Valentine’s Day 2015, when Adidas and Kanye West—who now goes by Ye—made sneakerheads go nuts with the premiere of the Yeezy Boost 750.
The collaboration swiftly became a juggernaut, raking in massive profits while elevating Adidas’ streetwear cred to unprecedented heights.
But what began as a sneaker love story dramatically unraveled into a messy breakup in 2022 after Ye sparked public fury with repeated antisemitic remarks.
The German athletic apparel powerhouse quickly severed its lucrative partnership, leaving warehouses bursting at the seams with unsold Yeezy shoes—an inventory reportedly worth around $1.3 billion.
The sudden split also left Adidas licking its wounds, as the company posted its first annual loss in over 30 years, clearly feeling the financial sting.
In May 2023, Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden announced a strategic plan to clear out the leftover merchandise, choosing to sell rather than destroy the remaining stock.
Gulden stood firm, stating at the time, “This is much better than destroying and writing off the inventory.”
To alleviate backlash and address the controversy head-on, Adidas committed portions of the sales to charitable organizations dedicated to fighting antisemitism, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, founded by Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Yet, despite these efforts, the Kanye West-Adidas split continued to haunt the company’s balance sheet.
Adidas confirmed on Wednesday (March 5) that North American revenue dropped by two percent in 2024, attributing the decline “solely due to significantly lower Yeezy sales.”
