Adidas is still pondering the fate of the shoes from Kanye West’s $1.2B Yeezy line
But fans, undeterred by Mr West’s anti-Semitic comments that led to the break, may still be able to buy the goods.
Adidas CEO Björn Gulden said the company is considering selling the shoes and donating the proceeds to charity
He said he ruled out other possibilities, such as burning.
Giving them away for free is also complicated, Mr. Gulden said, noting that the resale value of the shoes has gone up.
A pair of Yeezy 350 “Zebra” shoes now sells for between $340 and $360, compared to about $260 four months ago, John Mocadlo, chief executive of US footwear retailer Impossible Kicks, told Reuters.
The surge underscores the cost to Adidas after it cut ties with the rapper, known as Ye, in October and said it “would not tolerate anti-Semitism or any other type of hate speech”.
The company put their nine-year collaboration under scrutiny after the artist, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, showed a t-shirt design titled “White Lives Matter” at Paris Fashion Week, prompting a widespread outcry . Days later, he posted anti-Semitic comments on his Twitter account.
Adidas said the split cost the company 600 million euros (£534m) over the last three months of 2022. It warned investors that the end of the deal could cut profits by at least €500 million in fiscal 2023.
If Adidas sells the products, it has to pay Ye according to its contract, Mr Gulden told a news conference after the company updated investors on its performance in 2022.
But the company put the likelihood of actually finding a way to reuse the remaining products at only 15% to 30%.
Mr Gulden, who was appointed chief executive in November and took over in January, described the end of the deal as “very sad” but the right thing to do. He said he’s still deciding what to do with the leftover inventory.
“The inventory is there, it’s not running away,” he said. “We shouldn’t make a decision just to please someone. We should make a decision when the consequences of that decision are the most positive we can make.”
He added, “There are so many people interested in this from different communities around the world,” he added. “I’ve only been on this for seven weeks and I don’t feel qualified to make a decision based on the facts before me.”
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