German athletic brand Adidas yesterday celebrated Yeezy Day (August 2, 2021), an annual event marked by restocked and newly released Yeezy colorways launched throughout the day on Adidas’s Confirmed app and yeezysupply.com. The event dominated conversation on sneaker Twitter and interest in some launches was high enough to cause the app and website to briefly breakdown.
Updated: Over 50+ styles now confirmed for YEEZY DAY 2022 https://t.co/kT3vw4Bd6H pic.twitter.com/ElLgqptF7z
— JustFreshKicks (@JustFreshKicks) August 1, 2022
Yeezy founder Ye (Kanye West) didn’t say anything leading up the event, but on Yeezy Day he communicated he never approved the event in a DM exchange with Instagram account @chaseseesghosts.
In the DM, Ye wrote, “adidas made up the Yeezy day idea without my approval then went and brought back older styles without my approval picked colors and named them without my approval went and hired people that worked for me without my approval stole my colorways without my approval stole my styles and material approaches and went and hired a gm of Yeezy without my approval took talent on the production side and sprinkled them throughout adidas originals without my approval.”
In the text, Ye also addressed a long rumored Gap Yeezy Engineered by Balenciaga boot that never materialized, blaming Adidas for its delay. Pointing out that Adidas made its own shoe with Balenciaga, Ye wrote, “Even though they did a Balenciaga Collaboration they completely slowed down production on the shoes me and Demna [Gvasalia] developed for Gap by trying to bully Gap even though my contract states I can do casual shoes which I was doing when I did fashion shows.”
Bringing back up his June complaint that Adidas’ Adilette 22 was a rip off of the Yeezy Slide, Ye wrote, “When I originally ordered adidas to make more Yeezy slides the GM lied to my face and said they don’t have the capacity meanwhile adidas was copying my slides and making their own version of the Yeezy slide.”
The 45-year-old CEO and music creative fired one final shot, alleging that Yeezy’s sales account for “68% of Adidas on line sales.”
Adidas first announced its partnership with Ye in 2013. Three years later he signed what is believed to be a 10-year contract with Adidas that many believe will expire in 2026. While Ye and Adidas’ partnership has never been viewed as an easy one, most of Ye’s rumored conflicts with the company have taken place behind closed doors. Twice now in less than three months, he has aired his frustrations with the brand publicly. It’s an uneasy state of affairs leading many to conclude Ye and Adidas may part ways once their contract concludes.
