The almost decade-long relationship between Ye and Adidas started the way most do—full of hope, promise, and prosperity. If you rolled the tapes of highlights from their relationship like a sappy montage at a wedding, you’d see the Yeezy brand generating an estimated $2 billion in sales a year for Adidas, Ye receiving 15% royalties (which is $300M if sales are $2B) and endless headlines about sold-out releases.
However, like most relationships, the hope was replaced by reality, and cracks in the foundation began to show. In 2016, Adidas updated the fine print of their union to include a moral clause amid Ye’s controversial “Famous” music video and Saturday Night Live crash out.
It gave Adidas the right to terminate their contract for reasons including a “felony conviction, bankruptcy, mental health issues, or any actions that could bring ‘disrepute, contempt, scandal’ to Ye or tarnish the Adidas brand, according to The New York Times.”
It wasn’t all bad news for Ye, though. The updated contract included a $100 million annual marketing budget for the Yeezy brand and a continued 15% royalty rate for Ye.
Since then, the pair cut ties right before their 10th anniversary, and their divorce is predictably nasty. It allegedly involves lawsuits and Adidas selling “fake Yeezys,” prompting Ye to autograph a vinyl of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy with the very demure, very mindful statement, “fuck adidas.”
Follow us down the Yeezy-Brick road as we sort through the legal red tape and explain who is suing who, what for, and if Ye is being paid royalties from the ongoing Yeezy sales.
2022: Ye accuses Adidas of ripping off Yeezy designs
Before they officially cut ties in October, Ye was already pissed off with Adidas over their new shoes on the market. The brand released the Adilette 22 Slides in May 2022, and they were a smash hit, selling out immediately.
The shoes were released in five different colors, made of “natural and renewable materials,” and became a comfy fan favorite. However, in a since-deleted Instagram post, Ye called out the brand and its former CEO Kasper Rørsted directly for their “fake Yeezys made by Adidas themselves.”
“To Kasper, I’m not standing for this blatant copying no more. To all sneaker culture. To every ball player, rapper or even if you work at the store. This is for everyone who wants to express themselves but feels they can’t cause they’ll lose their contract or be called crazy,” said Ye.
“These shoes represent the disrespect that people in power have to the talent. This shoe is a fake Yeezy made by adidas themselves.”
Turns out imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery to Ye, and while both slides bear a resemblance, nothing further came out of this dispute. But trouble was still brewing on the Yeezy horizon.
In August, Ye came out online and said that Yeezy Day (AKA the day when some of the most anticipated shoes in the Yeezy collection drop) was not only created without his approval, but other decisions like bringing back older styles were made without his permission as well.
The growing tension continued through September when Ye had everything but congratulatory words for Rørsted once he officially announced his retirement. His since-deleted Instagram post featured a fake New York Times headline “Kasper Rørsted also dead at 60.”
2022: Adidas files for divorce from Ye
It wasn’t until October 2022 that their marriage seemed to have irreconcilable differences.
As Ye continued to make unsavory comments about Adidas online, the company announced that their relationship with the rapper was “under review.”
Ye’s smoke wasn’t just with Adidas; he made a series of harmful and dangerous antisemitic comments, like stating he would go “death con 3 on Jewish people,” that gave Adidas reason to enact the morality clause in their contract and part ways with the rapper.
They pulled all the remaining Yeezy products off shelves while requesting that retailers like Foot Locker follow suit. This led to a loss of $655 million in the last three months of 2023 due to the divorce.
2022: Adidas freezes $75 million of Yeezy assets
Weeks after announcing the divorce, Adidas froze $75M in Yeezy assets related to the $100M annual marketing budget outlined in their contract with Ye. Ye made the news public, being outspoken about the $75M being frozen, but no court records could confirm his statements and his credibility was shot.
Adidas claims to have paid $50M to a Yeezy Wyoming bank account and $25M to Yeezy’s JPMorgan Chase account. They allege that Yeezy mishandled all of these marketing funds, mixing the money with general accounts and using it for unauthorized purposes. Adidas wanted to ensure the funds didn’t disappear while their divorce was sorted out through private arbitration.
In May 2023, a federal judge overturned the ruling, unfreezing the assets and making the case public for the first time. This confirmed that Ye wasn’t lying about the freeze, but the case was moved to private arbitration to be sorted out during the rest of their divorce.
2024: Ye says Adidas is suing him for $250M amid resale of Yeezy inventory
In May 2023, Adidas announced that they would begin selling the remaining inventory of Yeezy products (rather than the initial plan of destroying what was left), worth about $1.3 billion.
However, they also announced that a “significant amount” of money from the sales would go towards “selected organizations working to combat discrimination and hate, including racism and antisemitism.”
Yeezy drops began again, and things were quiet between the exes until February 2024. “Let me explain really clear to you guys what’s happening with Adidas,” Ye said in a now-deleted video on Instagram.
“Not only are they putting out fake colorways that are non-approved, they’re suing me for $250M, and they’re also not paying me.” Kanye’s claims were made only days before Adidas was set to release the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 in a “Steel Grey” colorway on Feb 29.
There is no public record of Adidas filing a $250M lawsuit against Ye. He may have been referring to the $75M of Yeezy funds that Adidas froze and believed they were entitled to, along with other assets their lawyers are fighting for in the divorce. But details of private arbitration cases are just that—private.
As for Yeezy sales, Ye might be entitled to 15% royalties. However, it’s unclear if the terms of his contract are still applicable during the divorce litigation. Unfortunately, Ye’s claims are alleged and cannot be verified.
What’s next for Ye and Adidas?
Adidas never commented on Ye’s accusations of a $250 million lawsuit, but they did defeat a class-action lawsuit from shareholders in August 2024. The lawsuit filed by HRSA-ILA Funds claimed that Adidas “was aware of the volatile potential of its partnership with Kanye West,” but continued anyway without notifying investors of his true behavior.
Judge Immergut sided with Adidas’ arguments and dismissed the suit, stating that the company’s disclosure statements were not misleading about any risk Ye posed.
Nevertheless, the two parties are moving forward — kind of. Ye fired his long-time Yeezy designer, Steven Smith, in August as well. In an interview with Fast Company, he said that “the whole of Yeezy is circling the drain and this is just part of it. He has surrounded himself with toxic, C-grade losers.”
Meanwhile, Adidas is selling off Yeezys for as much as 70 percent off to close that chapter once and for all.
They had a “meet-cute” for the ages and a beautiful honeymoon period. However, the relationship between Ye and Adidas is now downright ugly, and there’s a higher chance of VULTURES 3 dropping soon than the two resolving their divorce amicably.
