Source: adidas / adidas
With the hundreds of millions of dollars that adidas garnered with the releases of Yeezy products over the summer, it was rumored that there would be another drop or two of remaining Yeezy sneakers before the end of 2023. But it seems like adidas has pulled the plug on those plans…for now.
Complex is reporting that the war that erupted between Israeli and Hamas in the past few weeks has pushed adidas to reverse course on their planned Yeezy drop as Kanye West’s antisemitic remarks (which led to his deal with adidas being terminated) this past year is still fresh on the minds of the Jewish community and Hip-Hoppers in general. An internal adidas memo that was shared with Complex confirmed the brand’s plan to hold back on the next wave of Yeezy sneakers.
Per Complex:
“As a brand we will not do a new drop for the remainder of the year both for our internal e-com and retail as well as wholesale,” Adidas’ message reads. “We will not be shipping out any new stock, this direction was given at the board level.”
The drop was set to include the “Bone,” “Onyx,” and “Zebra” colorways of the Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2. Adidas’ Yeezy 500 and 700 models were also included in the group.
An Adidas spokesperson declined to comment on the upcoming Yeezys for this story.
Interestingly enough, Kanye West has been mum on the war between Israel and Hamas, but truth be told, it’s probably for the best that he doesn’t opine on the matter. The last thing we need is more divisive, uninformed opinions on the matter from celebrities.
While the previous Yeezy Day drops didn’t garner the backlash many assumed it would and actually proved very lucrative for adidas, no one knows how people would react had the Three Stripes decided to move forward with its next release given the current political climate. With people in the U.S. and all over the world taking to the streets to protest the war between Israel and Hamas, adidas doesn’t want to take any chances that the brand would suffer any more negative publicity in this day and age of social media.
No word on when adidas will possibly move forward with its next Yeezy drop but best believe it will happen as sneakerheads and collectors are still gobbling up any and everything that’s branded Yeezy.
What do y’all think of adidas decision to pause any more Yeezy sneaker releases for the remainder of the year? Let us know in the comments section below.
