Adidas Postpone Plans To Sell Another Round Of Yeezys

Due to the Ye controversy on “Drink Champs” in 2022 where the embattled music producer made antisemitic statements, adidas severed ties with him. Executives decided to sell the remaining supply of Yeezys after several months, which amounted to a great financial windfall for the sneaker company. Now, adidas execs have paused the anticipated release of another round of Yeezy footwear.

According to Complex, an internal memo sent by executives at the company revealed that the expected November release of Yeezys has been postponed. Sources have speculated that the sale of popular sneakers has been paused due to the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel.

“As a brand we will not do a new drop for the remainder of the year both for our internal e-com and retail as well as wholesale,” the internal message reads. “We will not be shipping out any new stock, this direction was given at the board level.”

adidas was expected to release another set of Yeezys, “Bone,” “Onyx,” and “Zebra” colorways of the adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2. Also, adidas’ Yeezy 500 and 700 models were supposed to go on sale.

The potential for bad publicity surrounding the Yeezys release may have been the reason for adidas pulling back the release of the shoe one store owner speculated. With the war between Hamas and Israel being played out, the German company may not want to take the chance with a product that is associated with Ye, who has been called antisemitic after making unsubstantial claims against Jewish people in several interviews last year.

Insider reported that the sports brand received orders reportedly worth 508 million euros ($564 million) when the company reversed its decision to destroy the remaining supply. adidas initially planned to write the Yeezy product off for $500 million. Shareholder pressure made the company change direction earlier in 2023.

After adidas had been in a successful business relationship with Ye for almost 10 years he dared the apparel company to act when he said, “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”

That led to adidas calling Ye’s bluff and terminating the contract.