Kanye West? And ?Adidas’ New Partnership, Yeezy Stores Coming Soon
Kanye West’s partnership with Adidas just got a whole lot better, and their future looks more lucrative. Adidas has announced this week that they will be opening Yeezy stores across America and launching Adidas + Kanye West, which is “a Yeezy-branded entity creating footwear, apparel and accessories for all genders across street and sport.”
In a year that was already full of achievements for the rapper and mogul, 2016 just got even better for Kanye.
In fact, a deal such as this is pretty unprecedented. Kanye West and Adidas is a non-athlete and an athletic brand partnership, the likes of which we’ve never seen. Adidas has worked with other high-profile celebrities like Katy Perry, and even other successful people in fashion like Pharrell Williams. Not only will ‘Ye and Adidas continue to focus on lifestyle with their products, they’re also going to be expanding by making apparel for sport as well as street. As it turns out, this sounds like the next necessary step in this partnership.
Adidas + Kanye West products are going to be “sold at dedicated retail stores in the coming years that will serve as distinct hubs for this product.” This also means the two drafted up a new contract and will be creating for years to come, as “both sides are committed to a long-term partnership and we have big plans.”
? NEW DEAL ALERT ?
Adidas is giving Kanye West his own Yeezy design team and stores: https://t.co/Fj7a75rXer pic.twitter.com/iuku6EU36k
— Complex (@Complex) June 29, 2016
West first linked up with Adidas two years ago after he had a falling out with Nike. Their line of Yeezy Boost sneakers helped drive U.S. sales 12 percent for the Adidas brand. Having somebody as talented as Kanye on their side helped allow them to become much more popular than they were, while Nike on the other hand has seen a dive in their stock recently. One might believe it’s karma, and it certainly wouldn’t be unlikely if Kanye felt the same.
“Kanye is a true creator who has the ability to see things others don’t,” global CMO Eric Liedtke told Yahoo Finance. “We are exploring new territories by opening up the sports world to Kanye’s creativity. This is what Adidas has always been about, empowering creators to create the new.”
This sounds like everything Kanye West has always wanted to do. The Yeezy Boost 350 won the Show of the Year Award in 2015, and during his acceptance speech, West was very passionate when describing his drive and vision when it comes to fashion. The artist has made it very clear that he is nowhere close to being finished yet when it comes to his creativity and his art, which is just another reason that Adidas is so lucky to have him.
Kanye West's New Deal With Adidas Could Potentially Make Him A Billionaire – AvidMix | New Hip Hop Music, https://t.co/7HoCEs3Rxd
— AvidMix (@avidmix) June 30, 2016
The Yeezy Boost 350s were released worldwide on June 27, 2015, the second shoe from the collaboration, was made available through a worldwide release. There were four different versions of the shows that were released, all with different color schemes. The first was the white and grey Turtle Doves. There was an all-black version called Pirate Black. The third version of the Yeezy Boost 350s were the olivine variant known as the Moonrock. These were exclusive only to stores who were already vendors for the Yeezy Season One clothing line.
The last variant was called the Oxford Tan, with a light-brown color scheme. Earlier this year, Adidas and Kanye delivered a revised version of the Pirate Black’s, with added support like padding for the heel.
As far as the official Adidas + Kanye West launch, a date has not yet been confirmed. Adidas + Kanye is going to be run out of the company’s headquarters which is located in Portland, Oregon, with Kanye and a separate Adidas team overlooking everything.
[Photo by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for ADIDAS]
