By:  Ilana Siyance

Adidas will start reselling its remaining stock of Yeezy sneakers, in a bid to offload its billion-dollar inventory disaster.

As reported by the NY Times, the sports company had stopped selling all products it had made in collaboration with rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye, after the company was pressured to sever all ties with the musician due to numerous anti-Semitic remarks he made.   Since then, the company has been ailing from holding on to $1.3 billion in unsellable inventory.  Following consultations with several anti-Hate groups, the company has now decided to move forward in selling the leftover inventory– but has said that a “significant amount” of the proceeds will go to benefit groups and organizations representing people who were hurt by Ye’s remarks.

This solution “respects the created designs and produced shoes; it works for our people, resolves an inventory problem and will have a positive impact in our communities,” said Bjorn Gulden, who took over as Adida’s new CEO in January.  “There is no place in sport or society for hate of any kind and we remain committed to fighting against it.”

Mr. Gulden said that deciding what to do with the remaining stock of Yeezy sneakers was “one of the most difficult decisions that I have been a part of.”  Options ranged from burning the shoes to donating them to charity.   The company consulted with multiple groups including Black Lives Matter and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change, which is run by George Floyd’s brother, Philonise.  Another nonprofit consulted was the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish organization specializing in civil rights law in the United States. It is one of the groups which willbenefit from the proceeds of the sales, and the ADL spoke out welcoming Adidas’s decision as fitting given the complexity of the situation.

“This is a thoughtful and caring resolution for the unsold merchandise,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League.  Other groups were less enthusiastic about the plan, noting that Ye would still get a cut in the sales.  “Adidas’s willingness to donate the proceeds is highly commendable,” said Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, but he added, “The fact that Kanye West would profit financially from the sale is highly problematic.”  Mr. Gulden has previously said that Ye still has a royalty contract and that Adidas is obligated to honor it.

The Yeezy brand, a partnership between the rapper and Adidas, had been hailed as one of sportswear company’s most lucrative and expensive lines, perhaps even rivaling the most successful sportswear collaboration ever –namely between Michael Jordan and Nike.  In the Fall, after Ye had made a string of hateful rants targeting Blacks, Jews and others, public outrage demanded action from Adidas as well as other companies working with him.  As per the NY Times, Adidas had said its decision to sever ties with Ye would cost the company €1.2 billion in lost sales and roughly €500 million in profits in 2023.

The remaining inventory of shoes will go back on sale starting on Thursday.  The shoes are now listed on Adidas’s website, including the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 sneakers, selling for about $213.