Adidas brought in 400 million euros ($437 million) from the first release of Yeezy sneakers left over after breaking ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, as the German sportswear maker tries to offload the unsold shoes and donate part of the proceeds to groups fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate.
Maybe I’m just not seeing it here, but how is continuing to sell these shoes not reinforcing Kanye’s brand? I understand they’re donating some revenue to a good cause, but the article also makes it sound like Adidas is still making a healthy profit off these shoes. This just reeks of corporate pandering and virtue signaling. If Adidas really wanted to make a difference, they could take what they need to cover their costs and donate substantially more than that $10 million.