admin The results from last month’s “uncancellation sale” of unsold Yeezy styles by footwear giant Adidas are in, and they are, well, surprisingly sunny (for the brand, at least).
First, a quick recap: Last October, Adidas decided to discontinue the wildly popular Yeezy sub-line after its designer, Ye, went on multiple antisemitic tirades. This left the Yeezy parent company sitting on a large pile of unsold inventory, which it then decided to release in May and June, in lieu of destroying it all to the tune of a €500 million (roughly $552 million) loss.
According to the Financial Times, hypebeasts and sneakerheads proved to be unfazed by West’s toxic image, purchasing four million pairs during the spring drops for a gross revenue of more than €508 million (about $561 million), exceeding even the company’s “most optimistic forecast.” In fact, despite having customers register in advance and submit requests for specific styles and colors, Adidas was unable to fulfill all the orders. (A significant amount of the proceeds from this sale will be directed toward charities in the US and China that deal with issues of racism and antisemitism, though specifics about those donations are still pending.)
Adidas’s most recent earnings report paints a fascinating picture of a brand’s image remaining largely untarnished by the wrongdoings of perhaps its most visible representative. It also demonstrates the fickle whims of consumers and the disconnect between online outrage and a business’s bottom line. In the mid-2010s, Yeezy’s sneakers defied all laws of physics, taste, and economics to become a global phenomenon—and sneakerheads are still willing to shell out for them now, despite their association with a now-toxic figure like Ye.
Consumers these days have short memories—the endless stream of social media sees to that—and brands are increasingly divorced from the creative talents behind them, thanks to the unending churn of designers through various fashion houses. Fans of Yeezy, in particular, seem unconcerned with the sins of the sub-label’s founding father. Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said in March that the company is unlikely to make a profit on the remaining inventory, but these sales numbers are sure to still raise a few eyebrows internally.
