Despite ending deal with Kanye, Adidas says it will relaunch shoe designs without the Yeezy name

Adidas plans to sell Kanye West’s shoe designs after they cut ties with the artist. Adidas plans to sell Ye’s shoes and ditch his name.

On Wednesday, the German athletic wear giant said it intends to strip the “Ye” branding from the shoe and keep the designs, likely saving them more than $300 million in royalty payments to Ye.

“Let me be clear, we own all the [intellectual property], we own all the designs, we own all the versions and new colorways, It’s our product,” Adidas’ Chief Financial Officer Harm Ohlmeyer said. “We intend to make use of these rights as early as 2023.”

The company has been criticized for not cutting ties with the controversial artist, designer, and businessman sooner, likely because of the Ye-branded shoes raking in about $2 billion in sales last year, according to Morgan Stanley.

Ye fans and supporters are outraged at the decision.

One Ye supporter said “You can't cut all ties, cut his royalties then sell the product that is attached to him.”

Another said “Nobody gives a fuck if they own the designs legally, They support Ye

You will see… every post will be straight hate. Ye fanbase is insanely loyal”.

An additional Ye supported tweeted “Adidas is dumb as f–k if you sell Yeezy w/ no Kanye, the backlash is gonna be crazy,”

Another Tweet read “Bad business practices. I’m not buying Yeezy products without Ye.”

Social media users warned the German sportswear giant that the new shoes would advertise because their social media posts would be riddled with hatred from Ye supporters.

Ye denounced Adidas previous efforts to sell Yeezy knockoffs without his permission.

This June, the company released shoes that resemble one of his designs. Ye called the shoe “a fake Yeezy made by Adidas themselves” and went on to say, “I’m not standing for this blatant copying no more.”