By Matthias Williams and Helen Reid
LONDON (Reuters) -Adidas will sell more of its stock of Yeezy products in August, it said on Friday, and reiterated a pledge to donate part of the proceeds to groups fighting discrimination, without saying how much it would give.
Adidas stopped selling Yeezy shoes and abandoned its collaboration with their designer, rapper Ye, late last year after the artist, formerly known as Kanye West, went on a string of antisemitic rants in interviews and on social media.
But as its large Yeezy inventory weighed on the business, Adidas began selling the highly profitable shoes again at the end of May, and their enduring popularity despite Ye’s fall from grace helped to narrow the company’s projected loss for the year.
“As previously communicated, Adidas will donate a significant amount to selected organisations working to combat discrimination and hate, including racism and antisemitism,” Adidas said in a statement.
Adidas added the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) to the list of charities it pledged support to, having already announced it would donate to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change.
Some Yeezy shoes sold directly by Adidas in North America will come with a square blue pin, the symbol of the Stand Up To Jewish Hate campaign run by FCAS.
While the antisemitic rants cost Ye his talent agent and partnerships with Gap and Balenciaga as well as Adidas, the Yeezy shoes remain in demand and sell at high premiums on resale sites.
Adidas said the August drop will include some of the most popular designs, including the Yeezy Boost 350 V2, 500 and 700, as well as the Yeezy Slide and Foam Runner.
Adidas has sold 100 million euros of its Yeezy stock so far, according to Deutsche Bank analysts, who said the risk of a write-down of the inventory was now “remote”.
(Reporting by Matthias Williams and Helen Reid; Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)
