Kanye West is not playing with Adidas as the rapper called out Adidas for selling a slide that is a fake lookalike to his popular Yeezy brand slides.
On Monday (June 13), Kanye West took to his Instagram account, where he shared an image of the footwear called Adilette 22 retailing for $55 on his Instagram feed and called out the multimillion footwear brand for blatantly copying his Yeezy brand.
“THIS IS YE driving down the same street Kobe passed on Maybe I feel that Mamba spirit right now To Kasper I’m not standing for this blatant copying no more,” the post began.
Kanye West also called on sneakerheads not to support the Adidas brand, in essence asking all persons of influence like sports persons and rappers to boycott Adidas.
“To all sneaker culture To every ball player rapper or even if you work at the store This is for everyone who wants to express themselves but feel they can’t cause they’ll loose their contract or be called crazy Bravery is not not being afraid Bravery is overcoming your fear for your truth,” he said.
The rapper also singled out Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted, telling him to reach out.
“This Ye with the blue paint on my face These shoes represent the disrespect that people in power have to the talent This shoe is a fake Yeezy made by adidas themselves I’m not talking to DC about this either Kasper come talk to me Happy Monday,” Kanye wrote on Instagram.
When it comes to his Yeezy brand, Kanye is super protective.
Last year he filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Walmart for selling knockoffs that were similar to his Yeezy Foam Runner shoes.
Despite sending cease and desist orders to the company, the rapper filed an infringement action in a Los Angeles court last June, claiming that the knockoffs, which sell for significantly less than real Yeezys, intended to capitalize on Yeezy’s brand and goodwill in the shoe market.
The company also said that the potential loss to the Yeezy brand is hundreds of millions since the company is worth several billion dollars.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear how the latest action by Adidas will affect its relationship with Yeezy.
The two brands have had a long working relationship since about 2006 but concretized their a shoe deal in 2013 for a Yeezy-Adidas line that earned $1.7 billion in revenue in 2020.
The deal continues in place until 2026 and earns Yeezy 15% on all shoe sales from its Adidas line.
Neither Adidas nor Rorsted has responded to Kanye West and Ye has since deleted the post.
