Photo Credit: Connor Houtman
The Yeezy sneaker re-releases planned for 2023 have been cancelled, according to sources. Here’s the latest.
Earlier this year, the German sportswear company decided it would sell the remainder of its Yeezy stock. That’s following the implosion of its lucrative partnership with the rapper Ye, whose antisemitic rant and inappropriate behavior in public and on podcasts resulted in several social repercussions. Adidas dropped a $1.3 billion partnership with the rapper over a tweet promising to go “death con 3 on Jewish people.”
Adidas began offloading the stock of Yeezy shoes, revealing $440 million in sales for August 2023. 27% of that revenue was donated to charitable organizations including the Anti-Defamation League and the Philonise and the Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change. Now it appears those drops will stop entirely after Hamas terrorists attacked a peaceful music festival, leaving hundreds dead.
“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,” an internal Adidas message seen by Complex reads. “We will not be shipping out any new stock, this direction was given at the board level.”
According to Complex, the upcoming Yeezy drop was set to feature ‘Bone,’ ‘Onyx,’ and ‘Zebra,’ colorways of the Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2 design, and additional colorways for the Adidas Yeezy 500 and 700 models. Adidas formally ended its partnership with the rapper Ye in October 2022 following his antisemitic remarks on Twitter. Retailers speculate that Adidas put the hold on release to avoid any potential backlash from selling the sneakers while the Israel/Hamas conflict is ongoing.
Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden caught flak for saying on a podcast he didn’t believe that Ye meant what he said, in reference to his antisemitic remarks. Following intense backlash to that appearance, Gulden apologized for his misstatement and Adidas reaffirmed its decision to end its deal with Ye in the long run. “Our stance has not changed—hate of any kind has no place in sports or society, and we remain committed to fighting it.”
