- Adidas is selling off its stockpile of Yeezy shoes following its breakup with Kanye West.
- But Foot Locker was too afraid of potential backlash to help sell them, Complex reported.
- Adidas sold $437 million worth of Yeezys in its first batch of sales, with 27% of that going to charity.
Foot Locker refused to sell any more Yeezy shoes during Adidas’ relaunch of the brand earlier this summer, Complex reported.
The footwear retailer had originally planned to restock Yeezys before deciding against it, due to fears of a potential backlash related to Kanye West, unnamed sneaker industry sources told Complex. It took Yeezys off the shelves when Adidas announced it would stop its business with West in October.
Adidas first partnered with West in 2013, but it severed ties with the rapper in the wake of his anti-Semitic rant last year.
That left the sportswear company with a $1.3 billion stockpile of Yeezy products.
And it wasn’t until six months after the breakup with Ye that Adidas announced it would sell, rather than destroy, the inventory.
Adidas’ first batch of Yeezy sales post-Kanye raked in $437 million, the company said. $120 million of that was donated to charities that work to combat discrimination and hate. A spokesperson for Adidas did not confirm to Insider whether Foot Locker had abandoned plans to restock Yeezys.
Back when Adidas was trying to decide what to do with its stock, HSBC analyst Erwan Rambourg said: “You cannot sell Yeezy for reputational risk reasons,” Insider reported. However, there appears to have been minimal backlash so far.
According to Complex, Footlocker was also struggling to integrate a charity aspect into its sale of shoes. The company did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
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