Adidas and Ye’s multibillion-dollar partnership has been officially reviewed.
Adidas issued the following statement around noon today:
Adidas has always valued creativity, innovation, and assisting athletes and artists in realising their dreams. The Adidas Yeezy collaboration is one of the most successful in our industry’s history. We are extremely proud of our team, which has worked tirelessly throughout our collaboration with Ye, as well as the iconic products that have resulted from it. We also understand that all successful collaborations are founded on mutual respect and shared values. We have decided to review the partnership after multiple attempts to resolve the situation privately. During this time, we will continue to co-manage the current product.
This does not appear to be a change in how Yeezys are currently sold. Multiple retailers contacted by Complex confirmed that they are still allowed to sell the shoes, and email marketing from Adidas and Yeezy Supply advertised Yeezy sneakers as recently as this morning. An Adidas representative declined to comment on how the review period would affect the company’s relationship with Yeezy in the short term.
Ye has since responded on Instagram to the news. He wrote, “FUUUUUUCK ADIDAS I AM ADIDAS ADIDAS RAPED AND STOLE MY DESIGNS.”
Adidas’ announcement follows a particularly contentious month for Ye, who has spent much of the last few weeks on social media criticising partners such as Adidas and Gap, with the latter eventually announcing it would “wind down” the collaboration after Ye’s lawyers accused the company of breaching their contract.
Ye first complained about Adidas in June, when he accused the Three Stripes of producing “fake Yeezy” slides. His June posts targeted soon-to-be replaced Adidas CEO Kasper Rrsted as well as senior vice president and general manager Daniel Cherry III, stating that he preferred speaking with Rrsted directly rather than Cherry.
