Now What?

What is up with my Kickz and Sneakerz fam? I know it has been a minute, I hope all is well with you & yours. How is your kick game looking? Any new pickups? Anybody try to capitalize on the Ye and adidas break up? Snatch a pair of slides or RNNRS while the numbers were down? I am personally not an adidas fan, but I am not knocking anyone who is with the movement. But I do have an interesting question.... are you STILL rocking with adidas after the break-up or were you only there because they had Ye? I pose this question to those who favor the Yeezy kicks because once the smoke settled and they parted ways, my thought was "Now What? What are you going to do now adidas?"

Now before adidas lovers get offended or upset with me, let us really look at the situation. So, in 2013, adidas was third in the sneaker industry behind Under Armour (second) & Nike (first). Leading adidas to go outside the box and sign Ye who had recently parted ways with Nike. So adidas and Ye go into partnership in 20 13, but the first shoe does not drop until 2015.... the Yeezy Boost 350

Followed by the Yeezy Boost 750 which also released in 2015, driving the sneaker community crazy. Not only were Yeezys selling out, but the resale prices were high AND guaranteed because of the popularity of the artist and this new silhouette he "designed". Due to the popularity of the shoes, adidas agreed to pay Ye royalties on Yeezy releases.... something that Nike was not willing to do and one of the main reasons behind his leaving in the first place. Now we fast forward to 2019, adidas has released five more models of Yeezy sneakers in a plethora of colorways making Ye a billionaire in the process.

Things are going well for both parties in this partnership, until Ye announces he is running to become president. Something that caught everyone by storm and had us AND adidas scratching their heads. At his rally campaign in July 2020, he speaks about not being on the board for adidas and threatens to walk away. In September 2020 he tweets " I don’t have a board seat at Adidas. Black board seats matter.” While this seemed like an issue it quickly quieted down for reasons unknown. We move on to 2021 with the introduction of the Yeezy 450, deemed by Lyst as "the hottest men's product in the world". So, we are back in motion and things are returning to normal for the partnership...WRONG?? About a year after the 450 release, Ye took to IG to air out his grievances with adidas. Ye shares a photo of the adidas Adilette 22 and calls it “a fake Yeezy,” and demands Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted talk to him (June 2022).

In Sept 2022 Ye then calls out Adidas for allegedly copying more of his designs, as well as not giving him enough control over his products and not opening up Yeezy stores, among other grievances. Ye also suggests he wanted to terminate his deal with the company and have Adidas pay him $2 billion in damages. Oct 6 2022, adidas announces it has put Yeezy partnership under review. Stating that adidas will continue to co-manage the current product during this period. Shortly after this, Ye goes on Drink Champs (Oct 15, 2022) to do an interview and makes a lot of controversial remarks. Pissing off a lot of people in the process, to the point that the family of George Floyd filed a $250 million dollar lawsuit. Some of his remarks were seen as anti-Semitic, getting the interview banned and getting Ye himself banned from IG & Twitter.

Following the interview JPMorgan, Balenciaga and talent rep Creative Artists Agency all severed ties with Ye. Stating they do not agree with Ye or his statements, calling it hate speech and not wanting their business to be associated with that type of individual. Shortly after, adidas announced it would be severing ties with Ye as well (Oct 25, 2022). Upon announcing the split from Ye, adidas expected its bottom line to take a major hit... estimates went from $500 mil to just $250 mil this year. Yeezy was essential for adidas as it accounted for about 15% of net income according to analyst. So, with no Ye, their profits are cut in half by the hundred millions, but they will save roughly $302 mil because of royalties and marketing costs it will no longer pay to support the Yeezy business. Now do you see why I asked, "Now what?"? It does not seem to be looking great for adidas right? but it is not over yet.

adidas had a collaborative drop with Balenciaga, you read that right. The companies who parted ways with Ye are kicking it now lol... at least that is how it came off. The adidas/Balenciaga collaboration was in the works long before any of the Ye issues arose. NYSE Fashion Show (May 2022) is where the collab was debuted, preorder was available shortly after with an estimated shipping date of Nov 2022. The adidas/Balenciaga collection dropped on the Balenciaga website and the adidas app "CONFIRMED" on Nov 3rd.

adidas has also made the plans to release more Yeezy designs under its own branding as soon as 2023. adidas is the sole owner of all design rights registered to existing product and they intend to exercise those rights. Ye owns the patent for the Yeezy slide, making them the one exception. "It would be a mistake for adidas to continue to sell line" says an apparel analyst who believes "adidas should refrain from relaunching items under its own brand, as they will always be synonymous with Ye, and this would likely result in muted customer demand". Which brings me back to the question I posed to my adidas wearing readers.... are you STILL rocking with adidas after the break-up or were you only there because of Ye?

Please respond/comment with your thoughts and opinions.... I am curious as to what others think about this topic.

As always.... cop heavy, keep em clean & the soles icy!! #Salute

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