Last year, on the heels of multiple controversial and incendiary remarks and behaviors, footwear brand Adidas officially cut ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. The brand has already halted production of Ye’s Yeezy sneakers, but this has presented several new problems for them.
First and foremost, as Adidas will not be selling Yeezys anymore, a line that was very profitable for them in the past, they are projected to experience a heavy loss. Last week, Adidas announced that the end of Yeezy sales could cost them approximately $1.28 billion in yearly revenue. The announcement of this slash caused a panic sell-off of Adidas stock on Friday of around 11%.
Secondly, while production of Yeezys has ended, Adidas still has a large stockpile of the shoes that they cannot sell. For this reason, Adidas is exploring alternative means of offloading the shoes that could, ideally, still bring them some cash. So far, their ideas are to remove the Yeezy label and sell the shoes at a discount price or sell the shoes in smaller markets outside of the United States. If all else fails, donating the shoes to charitable organizations, while not profitable, could be a good PR move.
Adidas says dropping Kanye West could cost it more than $1 billion in sales https://t.co/CvxBrjcSD5
— CNN (@CNN) February 11, 2023
“There’s no way to get out of this gracefully or profitably,” Matt Powell, a footwear retail expert who has worked with Adidas, told NPR. “The question is, how can they lighten the bad things that are going to happen?”
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