Adidas drops $75 million case against Kanye West’s Yeezy brand. Here’s all about the case

  • The decision of Adidas to drop $75 million federal court case is hardly the end of legal battle between the company and Kanye West's Yeezy brand

Devesh Kumar
Updated1 Jun 2023, 09:35 PM IST
Adidas decided to end its partnership with American rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West in October 2022
Adidas decided to end its partnership with American rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West in October 2022

After abruptly ending a federal court case aimed at freezing $75 million held by Kanye West’s Yeezy brand, Adidas decided to put Yeezy shoes back on sale on Wednesday. 

Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden announced in May, that the company would be selling a portion of the remaining inventory and might donate some to social organizations. The developments came months after Adidas decided to end its partnership with American rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West in October 2022.

Adidas' decision to cut ties with Kanye West came after the rapper made some anti-Semitism remarks, leading to an uproar over social media platforms. Kanye West is known for his controversies in the United States and has made objectionable statements multiple times.

Adidas-Yeezy collaboration

Adidas-Yeezy was a collaboration between Kanye West and the German sportswear company Adidas. The partnership was established in April 2015 and offered sneakers in limited edition colorways, as well as shirts, jackets, track pants, socks, slides, lingerie, and slippers.

Before Adidas, Kanye West had collaborated with other big players in the sportswear industry, Nike, and together released Air Yeezy in 2009. The partnership ended in 2013 and then Kanye West decided to collaborate with Adidas in 2015 and signed an agreement lasting till 2026.

Frequent clashes

Even before the official break-up, everything was not fine between Kanye West and Adidas as the rapper expressed his displeasure with the sportswear management several times on social media platforms. Kanye West accused the Adidas management of keeping him out of the meetings and taking decisions without his approval.

Officially, Adidas management never commented on any sort of issues in the collaboration, but sources revealed that the management was not very fond of Kanye West.

Decision to cut ties

The final blow for the Adidas and Kanye West collaboration came in October 2022, when the American rapper expressed some anti-Semitic views from his Twitter account.

"I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE," Kanye West said in a tweet, in a reference to US military readiness code known as DEFCON.

The tweet brought a furor over social media and all popular brands including Balenciaga, Gap, and JPMorgan Chase announced to cut their ties with Kanye West. After a while, Adidas also announced its decision to terminate the contract.

Expensive decision

The decision of Adidas is expensive for both the company and Kanye West and currently, the sportswear brand has around $1.3 billion worth of unsold Yeezy shoes in stock. The termination of ties has cost the company $655 million in sales for the last three months of 2022, which widened the company's loss to around $550 million.

After the termination of ties with Adidas, Kanye West saw a significant hit in his net worth which came down from $2 billion to $400 million, according to Forbes.

The brand claims to be the sole owner of all design rights to existing products. Adidas has argued that it was Kanye West's offensive conduct to led to the breakdown of contract. 

The dropping of the case is hardly the end of the legal tussle between Adidas and Kanye West and the parties are expected to battle it out in a private arbitration case

 

 

Catch all the Business News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.

MoreLess
First Published:1 Jun 2023, 09:35 PM IST
Business NewsNewsWorldAdidas drops $75 million case against Kanye West’s Yeezy brand. Here’s all about the case

Get Instant Loan up to ₹10 Lakh!

  • Employment Type

    Most Active Stocks

    Tata Steel share price

    147.55
    03:59 PM | 8 NOV 2024
    -3.35 (-2.22%)

    Tata Motors share price

    805.70
    03:58 PM | 8 NOV 2024
    -14.1 (-1.72%)

    Indian Hotels Company share price

    733.05
    03:51 PM | 8 NOV 2024
    49.45 (7.23%)

    Ashok Leyland share price

    222.00
    03:59 PM | 8 NOV 2024
    6.2 (2.87%)
    More Active Stocks

    Market Snapshot

    • Top Gainers
    • Top Losers
    • 52 Week High

    Aarti Industries share price

    474.75
    03:59 PM | 8 NOV 2024
    -40.3 (-7.82%)

    Signatureglobal India share price

    1,274.45
    03:29 PM | 8 NOV 2024
    -107.95 (-7.81%)

    Great Eastern Shipping Company share price

    1,200.50
    03:29 PM | 8 NOV 2024
    -90.45 (-7.01%)

    GMM Pfaudler share price

    1,282.90
    03:29 PM | 8 NOV 2024
    -92 (-6.69%)
    More from Top Losers

    Indian Hotels Company share price

    733.05
    03:51 PM | 8 NOV 2024
    49.45 (7.23%)

    Vijaya Diagnostic Centre share price

    1,098.90
    03:29 PM | 8 NOV 2024
    71.45 (6.95%)

    Motilal Oswal Financial Services share price

    996.05
    03:59 PM | 8 NOV 2024
    61.85 (6.62%)

    One 97 Communications share price

    848.15
    03:58 PM | 8 NOV 2024
    52.35 (6.58%)
    More from Top Gainers

    Recommended For You

      More Recommendations

      Gold Prices

      • 24K
      • 22K
      Bangalore
      79,375.00-110.00
      Chennai
      79,381.00-110.00
      Delhi
      79,533.00-110.00
      Kolkata
      79,385.00-110.00

      Fuel Price

      • Petrol
      • Diesel
      Bangalore
      102.92/L0.00
      Chennai
      100.80/L0.00
      Kolkata
      104.95/L0.00
      New Delhi
      94.77/L0.00

      Popular in News

        HomeMarketsPremiumInstant LoanMint Shorts