Adidas to Sell Remaining Yeezy Shoes and Donate Proceeds to Charity

After cutting ties with Kanye West, Adidas is now facing a loss as unsold Yeezy merchandise has put the company in a financial bind. With over a million pairs of the popular unsold sneakers collecting dust, the company has decided to sell the remaining stock and donate the proceeds to charity.

According to Fortune, Adidas CEO Björn Gulden told investors at the annual shareholders meeting that the company will sell the product and donate to non-governmental charities that support them and organizations affected by the anti-semitic statements spewed by Ye last year.

After contemplating how they would get rid of the merchandise, they negated one suggested solution: burning them.

“What we are trying to do over time is to sell parts of these goods and then donate to organizations that help us, and that also have been hurt by Kanye’s statements,” Gulden stated to the investors at the meeting held in Fuerth, Germany. He continued, “Burning is not the solution.”

After being in a successful business relationship with Ye for nearly 10 years, since 2013, Adidas cut ties with the controversial music producer after he made anti-semitic statements.

In 2022 after Ye appeared on the since-deleted Drink Champs podcast on Revolt, he dared the apparel company to act when he stated, “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”

They called his bluff shortly after those statements were recorded.

BBC News reported the Chicago rapper will still receive royalties off the sales under the terms of the partnership. It was also reported that after news broke about selling the remaining stock, shares in Adidas were up 2%.

After five years of doing business together, the company has recently severed ties with a popular entertainer Beyoncé, and her Ivy Park line. It was reported in February that sales for Ivy Park dropped drastically by 50%. The clothing line brought in $93 million in 2021, yet, the following year, the brand only brought in $40 million.