Adidas Contract Entitles Kanye to Fee for Rebranded Yeezys, But There's a Rub

Adidas' announcement it will sell Yeezy designs without Yeezy branding should be money to Kanye West's ears ... TMZ has learned he has that in writing, but he's not getting a dime.

Sources with direct knowledge of the deal Ye signed with Adidas ... tell us there's a clause in the contract that calls for the rapper/designer to get a reduced fee if Adidas sells his designs without his branding.

That's interesting because when Adidas cut ties last month with Ye -- over his antisemitic and bigoted statements -- it said it would not pay him a single cent from that day forward. Of course, that was before Wednesday's announcement it will roll out some of Ye's shoes in 2023 ... just with the Adidas name and markings, instead of Yeezy.

TMZ asked the German shoe co. if it planned to follow through on paying Ye's reduced fee, and a spokesman said he's getting zero, zilch, null ... bupkis.

Now, there's most likely a morals clause in the contract as well -- and Adidas could easily say Ye's hate speech constituted a breach which nullified their deal. Adidas is providing no further explanation, so we've gotta read the tea leaves.