Adidas

Adidas shoulda seen Kanye West's antisemitic rants coming -- during one of his first meetings with the company, 11 years ago, he reportedly drew a swastika on a shoe sketch.

Shortly after signing on with the German sneaker giant in 2013, employees presented a bunch of shoe sketches to Kayne, which he did not like -- and, in response, he picked up a marker and drew a swastika over one of the sketches ... according to a NYT report.

That move shocked everyone in the room, especially because the meeting was reportedly going down close to Nuremberg, where Nazis infamously stood trial for war crimes after WW II.

Kanye set the bar with that move, though, because the NYT report claims, in future meetings,  he advised "a Jewish Adidas manager to kiss a picture of Adolf Hitler every day" -- and repeatedly told other Adidas employees what a "master marketer" Hitler was, and praised his "command of propaganda."

Keep in mind, Adidas remained in the Yeezy biz for nearly 10 years, and made a ton of money with Kanye, until last year ... when he started publicly spewing his antisemitic beliefs.

Adidas reportedly tripled Kanye's salary during a 2016 contract negotiation but added a morals clause in the deal -- perhaps because it was, by then, well aware of his affinity for Hitler and the Nazis.

Adidas debe haber visto venir los desplantes antisemitas de Kanye West.  Un reporte revela que durante una de sus primeras reuniones con la empresa, hace once años, supuestamente dibujó una esvástica en un boceto de zapatillas.

Poco después de firmar con el gigante deportivo en 2012, los empleados le presentaron un montón de bocetos de zapatillas, que no le gustaron. En respuesta, Kanye cogió un rotulador y dibujó una esvástica sobre uno de los bocetos, según un reportaje del New York Times.

Ese movimiento conmocionó a todos en la sala, sobre todo porque la reunión se estaba llevando a cabo cerca de Nuremberg, donde los nazis infamemente fueron juzgados por crímenes de guerra después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Kanye sentó el tono con ese movimiento, porque el informe del NYT afirma que en futuras reuniones aconsejó a "un gerente judío de Adidas que besara una foto de Adolf Hitler todos los días", y repetidamente dijo a otros empleados de Adidas el gran genio que era Hitler en cuanto al marketing y elogió su "dominio de la propaganda."

Es importante tener en cuenta que Adidas se mantuvo en el negocio junto a Yeezy durante casi diez años e hizo una tonelada de dinero con Kanye hasta el año pasado, cuando comenzó a vomitar sus creencias antisemitas públicamente.

Adidas supuestamente triplicó el salario de Kanye durante una negociación de contrato en 2016, pero agregó una cláusula moral en el acuerdo, tal vez porque para entonces ya era muy consciente de su afinidad hacia Hitler y los nazis.

Looks like Adidas is trying to make good after getting skewered for failing to part ways with Kanye West during his antisemitic tirade ... because the company's donating a chunk of its upcoming Yeezy profits to the Anti-Defamation League and other charities.

Adidas says it's going to sell off some of its remaining inventory at the end of this month, adding a "significant amount will be donated to selected organizations working to combat discrimination and hate, including racism and antisemitism."

In addition to the Anti-Defamation League, the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change -- started by George Floyd's brother, Philonise -- will also benefit.

It's unclear how much will go to the charities, but as we reported, there's about $1.3 billion in Yeezy products left over after the company pulled the plug on Kanye back in October.

You'll recall, Adidas seemed slow on the draw when it came to Ye -- dropping him well into his antisemitic tirades, including his unforgettable post -- "death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE."

Ye also had some extremely controversial takes regarding Floyd's tragic death back in 2020.

Adidas eventually kicked Kanye to the curb and tried repurposing its remaining stock, selling the shoes without the Yeezy name ... which, by the way, fell flat.

There will be no summer renaissance for Beyoncé and Adidas this year ... the two powerhouses have mutually agreed to part ways.

The Wall Street Journal reports Beyoncé's custom clothing line Ivy Park fell WAY below its 2022 sales projections of $250 mil ... only bringing in roughly $40 mil to close out the year.

Those numbers were also considerably lower than 2021's tally of $93 million ... and fresh marketing campaigns with celebs such as Irina Shayk, Yara Shahidi, Megan Thee Stallion and current hip hop it-girl Ice Spice weren't able to rouse the public's interest at the cash register.

Before cutting ties, 2023's projections were shifted from $335 mill to $65 mill. Beyoncé's contract is finished at the end of the year but is still on track to earn her $20 mil annual salary.

What's also interesting about the split is Beyoncé is set to embark on her Renaissance World Tour ... which could've brought in huge merch sales for Ivy Park.

Adidas is saying it's in a serious financial pinch ... and it's blaming the bind directly on its decision to split from Kanye West.

The athletic brand gave the worrisome update Thursday, saying it's expected to lose a whopping $1.3 billion in sales in 2023 -- and the company says it's because it's unable to sell off all the Yeezy shoes and clothes it still owns.

As we reported, Adidas cut ties with Ye last year after his antisemitic comments and actions ... but the brand announced soon after dropping him that it would continue to sell Kanye's designs, just without the Yeezy name.

Based on the financial report, it doesn't seem like that's working.

The statement says it could lose another $534 mil if it pulls the plug on repurposing the remaining Yeezy stash -- CEO Bjørn Gulden adds, "The numbers speak for themselves. We are currently not performing the way we should." He says 2023 is a year of transition for the brand.

Pele was paid $120K by a major sneaker company to bend down at midfield and tie his shoe before a 1970 World Cup match ... giving birth to a bitter feud between Puma and Adidas!

Pele's death has unearthed all kinds of stories about the soccer legend, who died Thursday at the age of 82, following a lengthy battle with colon cancer ... including when the greatest player ever was paid the equivalent of $1 million (in 2022 w/ inflation) to tie a Puma soccer cleat, according to Joe Pompliano, who told the story.

It all started in 1924 when Adolf and Rudolf Dassler started a shoe company, Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. The shoemaker was successful, and Jesse Owens even wore their brand during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where Owens dominated in front of Hitler, winning 4 gold medals.

But, by 1948, the brothers had a falling out and decided to go their own way ... each starting a sneaker company of their own. Adolf created Adidas and Rudolf, Puma. The brothers swore to never do business with one another.

Things changed in the late 60s when the brothers buried the hatchet and began communicating again, all in the interest of self-preservation. Adolf and Rudolf made a "Pele pact," an agreement that both companies would stay away from Pele, the biggest sports star in the world, fearing a sponsorship negotiation could bankrupt both companies.

Unfortunately for Adidas, Puma didn't exactly abide by the pact. Prior to a World Cup quarterfinal match in 1970 between Peru and Pele's Brazil, Puma paid the soccer superstar $120K to walk toward midfield just before the start of the game, bend down, and tie his Puma shoe.

Of course, Puma wanted to capture the moment on video ... so to ensure they didn't miss the moment, the shoewear company reportedly went as far as to pay the cameraman!

Brazil beat Peru ... and ended up winning the entire World Cup. It was Pele's record third.

The Pele-Puma partnership didn't come to an end with the '70 WC ... the deal was a smash success for everyone involved.

Adidas cutting ties with Kanye West has turned out to be a major gamble, because it has over half a billion dollars worth of the guy's shoes to sell, without his name anymore.

We already knew Adidas was planning to move forward with selling unbranded Yeezys post-split, but now ... we have a bit more insight into why. According to the Financial Times, insiders at the sneaker company claim Adidas is sitting on a huge mountain of Yeezys.

Per the report, the inventory the company has amounts to about $530 million ... and Adidas is apparently eager to hawk them to avoid taking an even bigger hit than what it's publicly disclosed thus far -- which was already looking quite grim for end-of-year numbers.

On top of the staggering amount of shoes it has to move -- which Adidas is reportedly scrambling to figure out how to do it -- the FT story goes into some detail about how deeply tied it was to Yeezys and to what extent Adidas was hinging its success on it.

In 2022 alone, Yeezys made Adidas upwards of $1.8 billion ... and made up around 7% of its total profits. The report also says Yeezy has stayed strong as a constant product in the Adidas wheelhouse since at least 2019, which might explain why Adidas took so long to finally cut ties with Kanye -- the dude (and his shoe brand) was literally its cash cow.

Adidas has reportedly already set a date for its first unofficial Yeezy release ... the company is calling it the Adidas 350 V2 “Granite," and it's supposed to retail for $230 -- dropping in January.

There's been a lot of debate online over whether people should (or will) buy what Adidas is trying to sell now ... but this report makes it clear -- it's banking on sneakerheads continuing to cop, because if they don't ... it could mean trouble for the shoe company.