Adidas has reportedly announced in an investor call that it will sell off its stockpile of Yeezy sneakers and donate the proceeds to charity instead of destroying them.

The sportwear giant severed ties with rapper-cum-fashion designer Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, after he made a series of antisemitic comments in public last year, claiming he “liked Hitler” and that the fascist dictator’s Nazi party “did good things”.

The breakup left Adidas with a dilemma of overstock, with the brand previously stating that the stock write-off would induce a €1.2 billion revenue hit.

Adidas’ 2022 operating profits fell to €669 million, marking a decline of two-thirds from €2 billion in 2021. Beyond tight Covid restrictions in China as a contributing factor of the profit dip, Adidas has since admitted that severing ties with Ye had “hurt” profits, according to The Guardian.

Impossible Kicks chief executive John Mocadlo said that since the furore, Yeezy sneakers have become a collector’s item.

"People are targeting the product as a collector's item now,” Mocadlo told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme. “When they come into a store, they don't even know he's associated with the product.”

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