Adidas has announced its contract with Ye‘s Yeezy brand is now officially under review. The German-based brand, whose CEO Kasper Rørsted recently announced plans to step down prior to the end of his contract, didn’t state why it’s taking a second look at the partnership. It’s been estimated Yeezy accounts for approximately 10-percent of Adidas’ annual revenue.
In a statement released to the press, the German-based company noted:
Adidas has always been about creativity, innovation and supporting athletes and artists to achieve their vision. The adidas Yeezy partnership is on one of the most successful collaborations in our industry’s history. We are produ of our team that has worked tirelessly throughout our collaboration with Ye and the iconic products that were born from it. we also recognize that all successful partnerships are rooted in mutual respect and shared values. After repeated effort to privately resolve the situation, we have taken the decision to place the partnership under review. We will continue to co-manage the current product during this period.
Since last month, Yeezy CEO Ye (formerly Kanye West) has been on a tear on social media, where he kicked things off by loudly complaining about his contracts with Adidas and Gap. Following his claims Gap had broken the terms of their contract by not opening up Yeezy-dedicated stores, the San Francisco-based company announced it had ended its relationship with the moody rapper.
Ye’s contract with Adidas, which runs through 2025, is much more complex than his agreement with Gap because the intellectual property for all but one Yeezy shoe silhouette is owned by Adidas. As well, Adidas licenses the Boost technology used to produce Yeezy shoes. Among other grievances, Ye has demanded Adidas release its claim on the intellectual property for all Yeezy silhouettes.
The 42-year-old CEO over the past month has provided plenty of reasons to give Adidas pause. In addition to the persistent and public complaints he’s made about his contract, Ye has also called out members of the board of directors whose images he posted individually on Instagram. He also posted multiple Instagram posts bullying and mocking executive Daniel Cherry III, who oversees Adidas partnerships.
While not directly related to Adidas, more recently he stirred fury after presenting a runway show in Paris where models wore “White Lives Matter” t-shirts. Following the event, he mocked Vogue editor at large Gabriella Karefa-Johnson who attended the event and criticized the shirt on Instagram stories. Not long after, he baselessly accused LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault of murdering Louis Vuitton menswear designer Virgil Abloh, who is known to have died at age 41 from cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare form of terminal cancer.
