In a series of social media posts, African-American billionaire and leading musician Kanye West has accused German sportswear manufacturer Adidas of organizing this year’s “Yeezy Day” without his permission.
Since 2019, Yeezy Day has been celebrated on Aug. 2 with the aim of highlighting the Adidas Yeezy line. The annual event allows sports shoe fans to score restocked and newly released colorways through the Adidas app.
West, a multi-industry creative entrepreneur who launched his clothing line, including his Yeezy boost sneakers with Adidas, in February 2015, outlined a number of alleged actions taken by the company without his consent in an Instagram message.
He revealed that the German sportswear behemoth created the Yeezy Day concept without his approval and then reintroduced older styles, which violated the terms of his partnership with the company.
West claimed that Adidas chose and named new colors and hired people — including a general manager for the brand — without his permission and that the company stole his colorways, styles, and material approaches.
His accusations come nearly nine years after he signed a lucrative multiyear contract with Adidas to design the Yeezy brand and clothing line.
West owns the entire Yeezy brand, which is worth $2.9 billion. In June 2020, the billionaire signed a next-level retail partnership with U.S. retailer Gap to create Yeezy Gap, which will develop and deliver a new line of elevated basics for men, women, and kids at affordable price points.
The entrepreneur has released fashionable items such as brightly colored hoodies in September 2021 and the first product, a blue puffy jacket, in June 2021 as part of the partnership. According to Gap, the hoodie generated the most online sales in the company’s history in a single day.
His business interests, which have disrupted the retail industry, have recently increased his wealth to more than $2 billion. His Yeezy brand has been enormously successful, with sales expected to exceed $2 billion by 2020.
According to a recent report by Billionaires.Africa, West’s net worth has risen by $200 million since 2021 due to the strong valuation of Yeezy, a fast-growing brand that is setting the pace in today’s fashion world.
