Adidas to sell some Yeezy stock, donate proceeds

Adidas plans to sell some of the merchandise from its Yeezy partnership with rapper Kanye West and donate the proceeds to international organizations, Chief Executive Bjoern Gulden said on Thursday.

When and how sales will proceed is an open question, Gulden said. "We are working on these things. Burning the goods would not be a solution," he told an annual general meeting in the southern German town of Fuerth.

Gulden said the proceeds would be donated to international organizations that West, who changed his name to Ye in 2021, had harmed with his comments.

Adidas terminated its partnership with the rapper and fashion designer in October after he made a series of antisemitic remarks.

Millions of Yeezy brand shoes that had already been produced but the sale of which was put on hold had since been sitting in storage as the company decided what to do with the stock.

The company donated more than $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish non-governmental organisation based in New York, in November, and the league told Reuters that it "stands ready and prepared to work with Adidas."