Is Yeezy over?

Kanye and Adidas Divorce

The last few weeks have been noisy with new outbursts by Kanye West (artist/designer/creative). This time he didn't have a wife or Pete Davidson in the crosshairs, and tempers weren't so easily dampened.

Mr. West has stated that he refuses to work with adidas and is taking legal action to terminate the contracts and privatize Yeezy production.

But let's not rush forward so much, let's start with what happened in the last 7 years and what started the whole conflict between the American designer and the sneaker giant. The Yeezy collaboration was launched in 2015 with the adidas yeezy boost 750, and was immediately followed by a slew of 350 models, which have since appeared in more than 100 colorways. In the past 7 years, the duo has grown into one of the most coveted brands in the world. Ye's futuristic designs and the hype surrounding the brand paid off handsomely for both parties, with 68% of adidas' online sales coming from yeezy shoes, while Kanye pocketed $500 million a year, an 11% royalty on every pair sold.

By 2022, however, the prosperous relationship had ended, and the happy period of peace was replaced by litigation and an uncertain future.
The main reason for the divorce is the models brought out by adidas, which are eerily similar to yeezy designs.
Yeezy slides have gained huge popularity in recent years. Its clean lines, pastel colors and the maximum comfort provided by the foam made the slippers iconic. adidas couldn't walk away from success, so they launched the Adilette 2022 under an old, well-established name, based on the stolen designs of the Yeezy Slide. The names of the use of materials, shapes, colors and shades are the same in several details or in their entirety.



The scandal began to unfold here, but in the background tempers temporarily calmed down. The final push for Kanye's isolation was brought by the appearance of the adidas Adifom Q and the distribution of Yeezy colorways that Kanye did not approve of.

Kanye accused adidas on several points of illegally coloring, naming and releasing yeezy models. In addition, the accusation of the distribution of fake Yeezys in the China region has also arisen (we did not learn more about this). Adidas management tried to nip the conflict in the bud, offering $1 billion to buy yeezy, which Kanye considered unworthy and publicly refused.



On social media, he attacked the members of the upper management by name, especially Daniel Cherry, who, according to the rapper, threatened him several times in meetings, and later made decisions without his permission in matters concerning Yeezy. In the meantime, Kanye's GAP collaboration also broke ground in a similar way. The management of GAP held meetings about the future of the collaboration without him.



After publicly condemning his two biggest brand partners, he said in an interview with Bloomberg that he intends to take his product endeavors into his own hands once his current contracts expire. - "It's time for me to do it alone"

At the same time, he stated that, despite the controversy, the contracts still bind him to adidas until 2026, and the gap until 2030, so they will have to manage the looks and production as a divorced parent.

"They are my new baby mamas. I guess we're just going to have to co-parent those 350s.”

Kanye still owns 100% of the Yeezy brand, so it is expected that he will start installing his own American factories. Previously announced plans included the creation of a Donda/Yeezy facility in Wyoming.

The outcome of the dispute will definitely change the future of Yeezy. You don't have to be a fortune teller that a drastic increase in Yeezy prices may follow from the American production, and that the reduction in production capacity will lead to more limited appearances.

FRESH INFO:

Kanye West terminated the GAP contract on 15.09.2022, so we can no longer expect Yeezy X GAP products in the future.