Kanye West, one of the most influential rappers of all time, has found himself in another hassle. Being the most controversial and outspoken celebrity, Kanye has received both praise and criticism. May it be a statement on 400 years of slavery or his marriage with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian, he somehow manages to get caught in controversies every other day. Kanye is not just a musician but also a fashion designer, with a clothing brand called Yeezy. His collaboration with Adidas, 7 years ago, became a high-end limited edition and general release offered by the Yeezy Boost sneakers line. The first shoe model Boost 750 was released in February 2015.
Kanye West x Adidas do go a long way back after falling out with Nike
Kanye had originally designed a shoe for Adidas in 2006 which was never released. In 2013 when Nike did not pay him royalties for his shoe designs, Ye left and ultimately reached out to Adidas. Under the partnership with Adidas, Kanye retained 100% ownership while having full control over the creation of products released. This deal worked out well for over 6 years.
The deal-breaker for Kanye-Adidas
Though Kanye kept his ownership of the brand, he revealed that Adidas went ahead with the Yeezy Day idea without his approval. On Tuesday, the brand marked the fourth annual Yeezy Day and launched new products under the deal signed with the rapper. This caused a backlash from the 45-year-old. The 6-year-old collaboration doesn’t seem to go well for Ye and his criticizing and slamming of the company has increased lately. In an Instagram message to Complex, Ye revealed about the Yeezy Day launch. Ye wrote:
“Adidas made up the Yeezy Day idea without my approval and then went and brought back older styles without my approval.”
He further wrote that the brand “picked colors and named them without my approval and hired people that worked for me without my approval stole my colorways without my approval stole my styles and material approaches without my approval took talent on the production side and sprinkled them through Adidas Originals without my approval.”
“Even though they did a Balenciaga collaboration they completely slowed down production on the shoes me and Demma developed for the Gap by trying to bully Gap even though my contract states I can do casual shoes which I was doing when I did fashion shows.”
Kanye concluded by saying Yeezy is 68% of Adidas online sales. The rapper even had called Adidas Adilette “fake Yeezys” back in June.
Source: GEO
