On October 25, Adidas officially announced that it had terminated its contract with Ye (Kanye West). The decision comes after an ongoing dispute over the artist going too far in his words on social medias.
The demise of their nearly decade-long partnership (which Ye estimates was worth close to $100 million a year) has left him one of the most influential pop stars of recent decades, but increasingly It cast doubt on what will happen next to Ye, who is becoming more and more polarized. and unreliable. Ye’s former talent agency, CAA, no longer represents him, and his longtime record label, Def Jam, said his contract expired last year.
Adidas said in an official statement that while it had discontinued all Yeezy-related products, it would remain “the sole owner of all design rights to its current products”.
So Kanye West will keep the Yeezy trademark but not won’t own the design anymore, Adidas could continue to reproduce his designs, but they wouldn’t be able to use the Yeezy branding.
This means Adidas can still copy the design, but not use the Yeezy brand. Adidas is unlikely to do this any time soon, but the question arises: Will Adidas continue to make Yeezys and Yeezy designs?
“I think what we could see is Adidas keeping those designs in its archive and bringing them out in the future, I do think, and this is why it was important for them to claim ownership of those designs, that we will see Adidas designs based on the look and feel of Ye.”
Susan Scafidi of Fordham’s Fashion Law Institute.
Adidas is just one of many companies that have cut ties with Ye for his repeated anti-Semitic remarks. Balenciaga, which Ye publicly endorses, calls creative director Demna his “heterosexual husband,” and Gap just five months ago, Balenciaga’s Easy Gap opened pop-ups in cities like New York and Los Angeles. Placed stopped collaborating with Ye, stopped. We sell that product. Nevertheless, Scafidi believes that Ye still has a chance to succeed independently in the world of fashion, from a business perspective. “You just graduated from fashion school. I mean, he just graduated from Gap and Adidas. If he and his team were smart along the way, he could see how it goes.” Got it? Can you easily verify that your infrastructure is built? No, it’s not easy. But here she’s talking about Yeezys…if anyone can, it’s Yeezys.
Large companies like Adidas and Gap will survive without Ye, despite the greater cultural impact of their collaborations. Ye is likely to continue its fashion business independently. Given that Adidas owns the designs and Ye owns the brands, how will the two companies evolve?
Only time will tell us
More on Kanye West
Kanye West, the rapper and fashion designer who now goes by Ye, has been at the center of several controversies.
- Recent Scandals: Ye has come under fire for making a series of antisemitic remarks and wearing a shirt with a slogan associated with white supremacists at Paris Fashion Week.
- The Fallout: The response to Ye’s antisemitic comments has been swift, as corporate partners, including Adidas, have cut ties with the rapper. Here’s how his empire has unraveled so far.
- Donda Academy Basketball: The star-studded high school team, one of Ye’s vanity projects, teetered on the brink of collapse after two prominent tournaments revoked invitations.
- Parler Deal: Parler, the social media service known for its right-wing audience, said that Ye would purchase its site, days after Instagram and Twitter restricted his accounts.
Via The New York Times
