The dilemma of Adidas after the fall of Kanye West: what to do with 1,200 million euros in unsaleable products?

On October 25, the end of one of the most lucrative urban fashion alliances of recent times was consummated.

Through a statement, Adidas announced the immediate end of its collaboration with Kanye West (now called Ye) and their joint brand, Yeezy.

It was the sportswear giant's reaction to the anti-Semitic and racist statements by the American rapper and businessman, in one of his many controversial episodes in those months.

This put an end to a union that began in 2015 and that had returned Adidas to the forefront of

, of urban fashion, but there were still many doubts to be resolved.

The heritage of the Adidas-West collaboration is not only symbolic, but also material.

This month, the firm valued at 1,200 million euros the impact that not releasing the

of Yeezy products that it still maintains could have on its finances.

The way in which the company manages the future, or the absence of it, of a line that according to market analysts accounted for about 10% of its annual revenue is, for the moment, a mystery.

Also for the urban fashion community, which sees one of its reference names in danger.

The collaboration that changed everything

The arrival of Kanye West to Adidas in 2015 was an earthquake in the urban fashion industry, a sector that is estimated to generate some 173,000 million euros in global sales per year.

At the height of his popularity, the rapper had launched two sneaker models with Nike, but West wanted more: total creative control and his own clothing line.

The American company's refusal to grant him those powers led the artist to knock on the door of his great rival and Adidas, which had seen how Nike was ahead of them in the urban fashion sector thanks to the Jordan brand, accepted.

Thus was born Yeezy, a name that sparked madness among an increasingly avid public, thanks to West's visionary designs.

Rapper Kanye West, during the presentation of Yeezy, his joint brand with Adidas.GETTY IMAGES

"The signing of Kanye West by Adidas changed the game, that's where the madness began," explains Ernesto Cabeza, a

collector .

“Before, there was already a resale and there were many models that were difficult to find, but with Yeezy came the

.

They were the first shoes that were already resale as soon as they came out, you could pay between 1,000 and 2,000 euros for some models”.

Limited editions, which fed the desire for exclusivity, entered a new phase, in which the resale market skyrocketed.

Around her, a whole movement that had

a ritual in the form of a challenge at each launch (or

"West's arrival at Adidas made the company recover ground that it had lost," confirms Kike Marina, a sneaker specialist and creator of the first blog in Spanish about them, sz9.

“It was a series of small successes that came just in time, at a time when

was starting to become something close to luxury.

Adidas had already collaborated with Yohji Yamamoto on Y-3, for example, but over time they had lost that image that was associated with the word

at that time ”.

The alliance set the pace for streetwear from 2015 to the end of the last decade, even as Yeezy-branded products became more accessible.

"Adidas saw the formula and burned it," says Cabeza.

“Models like the 350 v2 came out in 80 or 90 colors.

Even so, some pairs kept selling out.”

“It is a process that had been designed like this from the beginning”, says Marina.

“Creating a halo of difficulty to get a product is the easiest part, many people have succeeded in that.

The problem is when you turn your product into something massive and you want to continue maintaining that spirit.

Yeezy knew how to do it.

More than the product itself, the success was the way to stagger its access: it was always sold a little less than what people wanted.

In this way, I was able to create expectations for the next release”.

A poisoned legacy

Like any other market, the

is based on supply and demand, but in its case the most reliable index is the one that marks resale.

models

, indicates that the Yeezy continues to be priced as before the break between West and Adidas.

However, different questions arise for the brand, all of them with more than six digits.

The Adidas Yeezy Boost 350, designed by Kanye West, marked a before and after in the 'sneaker' world.Cordon Press

“The numbers speak for themselves: we are not getting the results we should be,” Bjørn Gulden, the new CEO of Adidas, recently declared, fresh from another rival, Puma.

"2023 is going to be a year of transition to lay the foundations that will make us once again a profitable and growing company."

West's controversies had an impact on the aforementioned drop in its shares, and it remains to be seen what the company will do with the

of Yeezy products.

A mystery that will continue to be at least for some time: the company's press department in Spain refers to the announcement of the termination of collaboration with West and refuses to comment further on it.

“I don't think destroying these products is an option, no company in 2023 can justify a practice that is already beginning to be legislated in countries like France.

It would be an even bigger reputational disaster,” says Marina.

One of the options being considered by the

community is for these products to go on sale unrelated to the Yeezy label, although it would also have negative implications.

"If you want to disassociate yourself from Yeezy and put those products on sale, even if they don't carry the brand, it would be showing a tremendous double standard," says her head.

Beyond imaginative solutions such as those proposed in an article in

(“melt them down and turn them into crocs?”), the key may lie in letting a reasonable amount of time pass.

"Brands have a short memory in this regard," says Marina.

“There are athletes who have suffered problems of this type before.

I am thinking, for example, of Manny Pacquiao and his homophobic statements, or Kobe Bryant, who signed an agreement to avoid a trial for rape, and later continued to be the image of Nike.

Sports brands often target a very young consumer, who thinks in the moment and does not investigate what happened three years ago”.

Another example of how the public image of a brand or a designer can be regenerated is found in the case of John Galliano.

As he did with West, anti-Semitic remarks led to his dismissal from Dior, to become creative director of Maison Margiela three years later.

While waiting to find out what the brand will have in store, Yeezy's paradox is that he continues to maintain his value in the market.

“Kanye West has always been controversial, love him or hate him, but I think his persona is separate from the Yeezy models,” concludes Cabeza.

"In fact, there are models that may be worth more now that it's out of Adidas."

You can follow ICON on