Adidas has plans to bring back the “Yeezy” shoe as early as next year, despite the termination of the deal between the apparel company and Ye, the mogul rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
The company cut professional ties with Ye on Oct. 25 in response to his antisemitic remarks made on social media and elsewhere.
On Adidas’ third-quarter earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Harm Ohlmeyer noted exactly who owns the designs to the shoe, its branding notwithstanding.
“Adidas is the sole owner of all design rights, ready to [ship] existing product as well as previous and new colorways under the partnership, and we intend to make use of these rights as early as 2023,” Mr. Ohlmeyer said, according to a transcript of the call by Seeking Alpha, an investor news and information website.
The shoes would not be sold under the Yeezy label, but the rest of the intellectual property around most varieties of the shoe belongs entirely to Adidas.
“We are the sole owner of the IP rights, of current and future colorways. And of course, we have a lot of things in the archive as well. … It’s definitely current products, but also future products and as you say, not under the Yeezy label,” Mr. Ohlmeyer explained on the call.
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The cancellation of the cooperation between Ye and Adidas has some short-term pain; a revenue shortfall of up to $255 million (250 million euros) for 2022, especially in the fourth quarter where Yeezy shoes sold the best.
However, the upside for Adidas is that, with the Ye partnership nixed, the company will save around $305 million (300 million euros) in royalty and marketing fees.
Some experts have doubts that selling the visually distinctive footwear without the Yeezy branding will be successful.
Adidas “should refrain from relaunching items under its own brand, as they will always be synonymous with West, and this would likely result in muted customer demand,” GlobalData apparel analyst Darcey Jupp said in a note to clients, according to CNN.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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