Adidas has gone back to selling Hitler admirer Kanye West's Yeezy sneakers, about six months after the German shoemaker parted ways with the anti-Semitic entertainer. The company said it will donate a portion of the profits to the Anti-Defamation League and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change.
(Whenever I read "a portion of the profits" I mentally swap it with "one percent.")
In a statement, Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden said,"We believe (selling and donating these Yeezys) is the best solution as it respects the created designs and produced shoes, it works for our people, resolves an inventory problem, and will have a positive impact in our communities."
Adidas has fallen on hard times since it was forced to cut ties with West. From The Independent:
Cutting ties with Ye cost Adidas hundreds of millions of dollars — contributing to a loss of 600 million euros ($655 million) in sales for the last three months of 2022, which helped drive the company to a quarterly net loss of 513 million euros.
Adidas reported 400 million euros ($441 million) in lost sales at the start of 2023, the company announced earlier this month.
Net sales declined 1% in the first quarter, to 5.27 billion euros, the company said. It reported a net loss of 24 million euros, a plunge from a profit of 310 million euros in the same period a year ago.
Operating profit, which excludes some items like taxes, was down to 60 million euros from 437 million euros a year earlier.
