Orders worth $565M for unsold Yeezy shoes swamp Adidas

Adidas exceeded its most optimistic projections when it received orders for 4 million pairs of the Yeezy shoes, totaling over 508 million euros, or $565 million.

The German sportswear giant may avoid having to take a significant write-down on the remaining stock of the Yeezy shoes thanks to the first round of online sales' strong demand.

Adidas stopped selling Yeezy shoes from its obsolete partnership with Ye in October 2022 after the rapper previously known as Kanye West made a chain of antisemitic comments.

Adidas' first quarter sales were down by almost $440 million due to the loss of the highly profitable footwear line.

However, strong demand for the unsold shoes has laid to rest the fears at Adidas’ headquarters that Ye’s antisemitic tirades and a decrease in marketing in the recent past would have made the Yeezy brand too toxic in the current political climate.

In May 2023, Adidas announced it would donate a part of the proceeds from the sale of the Yeezy shoes to organizations fighting racism and antisemitism.

Discussions over how much will be donated to individual charities are ongoing, and Adidas has chosen five charities in China and the US as a first step.

There have reportedly been discussions about giving more than 8.5 million euros to five charities, but no decision has been made.

Ultimately, the amount donated from sales will be much larger, as Adidas is willing to pay a significant share of profits from the Yeezy sale.