Adidas stated Wednesday that it had offered its closing pair of Yeezys, a wildly well-liked and successful sneaker logo it evolved with the rapper and clothier Ye, because it attempted to transport previous the exposure nightmare that adopted after Ye’s antisemitic feedback.
The sportswear giant severed ties with Ye, previously referred to as Kanye West, in 2022 after he posted antisemitic remarks on social media and made different offensive feedback publicly. Adidas had stated that finishing its just about decade-long collaboration with the American entertainer price it just about 250 million euros that yr.
The rapper apologized to the Jewish community in 2022 simplest to later retract his apology in a barrage of social media posts in February during which he declared he was once a Nazi.
The sale of Adidas’ ultimate Yeezy stock generated about €50 million within the fourth quarter of 2024, boosting the corporate’s general income to €5.97 billion, up 24 % from a yr previous, Adidas stated Wednesday in an profits record.
However the sports activities logo was once wary in its outlook, slicing its income enlargement forecast for 2025 to ten %, from 12 % closing yr. It was once the primary time, the corporate stated, that the outlook didn’t come with income from the Yeezy line.
The breakup was once toughest felt in North The united states, the place the attire was once pushed by way of the Grammy-winning rapper’s recognition. “Gross sales in North The united states declined 2 % only because of considerably decrease Yeezy gross sales,” stated Adidas, which is primarily based in Herzogenaurach, Germany.
Mr. Gulden stated the corporate would chop as much as 500 jobs at its headquarters to shift decision-making to workplaces all over the world. “We want to scale back complexity,” he stated, including that it made little sense for staff in Germany to come to a decision what was once wanted in markets in another country.
After finishing its ties with Ye, the attire corporate struggled with slowing gross sales and revelations that it had ignored the rapper’s misconduct for years. The severed contract additionally left Adidas with mountains of footwear and clothes, and attainable losses of €1.2 billion in gross sales and about €500 million in benefit closing yr.
In 2023, beneath the stewardship of a brand new leader govt, Bjorn Gulden, Adidas determined to not write off the rest Yeezy inventory however promote it and donate a part of the benefit to organizations such because the Anti-Defamation League and Robert Kraft’s Basis to Struggle Antisemitism.
On Wednesday, Mr. Gulden struck an positive tone, signaling the corporate’s eagerness to place the Yeezy scandal in the back of it with new famous person collaborations and a focal point on different well-liked sneaker traces, just like the Samba, a many years’ previous logo that has had a resurgence in recognition.
“With all of the demanding situations available in the market, let’s now not put out of your mind that there are such a lot of amusing issues to stay up for in 2025,” Mr. Gulden stated.’
Melissa Eddy contributed reporting from Berlin.
