Adidas has orders worth more than €508 million ($565 million) for 4 million pairs of unsold Yeezy shoes, exceeding the company’s “most optimistic forecast,” according to a new Financial Times report. According to the report, healthy demand for the first batch of online sales for Yeezy shoes could help Adidas avoid a significant write-down on its remaining stock.
Sources told the Financial Times that the strength of demand meant Adidas could not meet all the orders, particularly for specific sizes and models. The report states, “The robust demand has dispelled fears at Adidas’s headquarters in Herzogenaurach that Ye’s antisemitic outbursts and the lack of marketing for the shoes over the past six months would have made the Yeezy brand too toxic.”
In May, Adidas reported it would begin selling its stockpile of millions of unsold Yeezy sneakers later that month from its defunct partnership with rapper Kanye West. Proceeds from the sale would benefit Antiracism organizations.
Last year, Adidas cut ties with Kanye West over anti-Semitic comments he made, leaving the sporting goods maker with unsold Yeezy brand shoes worth 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion).
Photo courtesy Adidas
