Yahoo Finance Adidas sparks gold rush with £870m sale of Kanye West’s Yeezy shoes
Adidas is to sell off €1bn-worth of Kanye West-designed trainers in a charity fire sale that is likely to spark a frenzy among trainer collectors.
The German sportswear giant said on Thursday it planned to sell the huge stockpile of unsold Yeezy trainers that it has accumulated since cutting ties with Mr West last year.
Adidas stopped making and selling the trainers after ending its partnership with Mr West last October, following anti-Semitic comments made by the rapper.
The immediate halt left the company with millions of pairs of shoes manufactured under Mr West’s Yeezy line but not yet sold. The stockpile is worth more than €1bn (£870m).
Adidas said on Thursday it had decided against destroying the trainers, saying it would “try to sell parts of the product” and donate some of the proceeds to charities representing those offended by Mr West’s comments.
Chief executive Bjørn Gulden told shareholders that “burning the goods would not be a solution”.
He said: "When we will [sell them] and how we will do that is not clear yet, but we are working on those things. But I think burning the products is not the point."
The sale is likely to trigger a frenzy among collectors of trainers, a subset that has grown into a billion dollar market over the last decade.
Yeezy shoes have become amongst the most collectable in the world since Adidas first began its partnership with Mr West, who now goes by the name Ye, in 2016.
Searches for the rapper's Yeezy trainers hit a five-month high on Google on Thursday.
Adidas broke off its partnership with Mr West after said he intended to “go death con 3 on Jewish people” on Twitter.
He later said on a podcast: “I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”
Demand has remained high despite the rapper’s offensive comments. Prices have spiralled on resale websites, where shoppers can buy and sell second hand trainers.
Moses Rashid, chief executive of resale website The Edit LDN, said: “When the initial deal was cancelled we saw an overnight spike in sales and a price increase of about 20pc to the previous trading price where people were ‘panic buying’ or buying to hold and sell on for a premium.
“Whilst this has softened a little, it has remained fairly consistent with steady levels of demand.”
