Kanye West‘s partnership with adidas is no more, but the footwear brand is reportedly planning to resell all remaining Yeezy sneakers in stock for charity.
Following adidas’ split with Ye — largely because of anti-semitic remarks he made last October, as well as visiting Alex Jones’ InfoWars — there was a lot of concern about what would happen to the now-defunct brand’s inventory.
Now, according to a recent shareholder meeting held Thursday (May 11), adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden announced that the brand will donate a portion of Yeezy proceeds to charity.
In addition, adidas’ collaboration and agreement with West provides West with a 15 percent commission on all sales.
Due to sustainability concerns, adidas ultimately decided not to destroy the millions of remaining unsold Yeezys after the business deal was broken up.
“What we are trying to do now over time is sell parts of this inventory and donate money to the organizations that are helping us and that were also hurt by Kanye’s statements,” Gulden is quoted as saying.
In its fourth quarter, adidas lost $1.3billion due to the loss of Yeezy revenue. A further $441million in losses occurred over the last two quarters, making the decision to sell lingering products a financial one rather than what Gulden referred to as a “reputational risk” for Adidas.
Prior to this, the Chicago native had reached an agreement with adidas to sell nearly $500,000 worth of Yeezy inventory after months of back and forth.
In other related news, Kanye West has taken his trolling to a new level, reportedly setting up the new Yeezy headquarters next door to an adidas store in Los Angeles.
According to a recent post from Ye fan site Donda Times, the new office is located on Melrose Ave. between Laurel and N. Edinburgh – with just a hair salon separating the brand and its former distributor, adidas.
The news comes months after a report that the Yeezy brand’s last known office location was facing eviction after missing two months of rent worth $63,254. Ye first leased the 15,000 square feet of office space in 2015 when Yeezy was known as West Brands Fashion.
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