As many sneakerheads would already have heard, adidas is set to release yet another round of Kanye West’s Yeezy sneakers from its inventory. While the company infamously parted ways with Ye in October 2022, much has happened since then. For starters, adidas went back on its original decision to scrap all future Yeezy sales. Instead, 2023 saw two separate release dates for what appeared to have been the last of its Yeezy inventory. Now, at the start of 2024, adidas has again announced yet another upcoming drop from its backlog of sneakers. What exactly is going on?
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In an official press release shared on 31 January 2024, adidas highlighted its current sales and profit numbers, which were initially lower than expected but landed on a slightly more positive note as a result of the two above-mentioned Yeezy releases. As a result of its poor outlook without the inclusion of the Yeezy sales, adidas took the decision in Q4 2023 to release another round of sales for eager sneakerheads.
While there may have been a plausible explanation for its seeming abundance of remaining stock, there have been a few murmurs as to whether all of the sneakers in question for its upcoming release were manufactured before the split.
For those in the know on sneaker release schedules, they don’t always align with the manufacturing process. In many cases, large brands often have a 12-24 month launch schedule, mostly driven by approvals of a few mock-ups from the factory. However, when it comes to the manufacturing of the products for each of those releases, it’s often only completed around 3-6 months before the release date.
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Many have suspected that things aren’t as they appear, and the reason is the rumours in the product lineup. One of the sneakers on the potential release timeline is the Yeezy 150 Samba. If you can recall, the sample of the sneakers did the rounds in August 2023, having only just passed the product sampling stage prior to approving the mass production of the range. If the rumours are to be believed and the sneaker does appear in the product lineup, one would then start to question the possible manufacturing dates.
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At this point, it’s still highly speculative, and the rumours about the possible sneakers in the upcoming release should always be viewed with a grain of salt – until we can get the official news from the brand itself. At the same time, I’m sure there will be many eager buyers keeping a keen eye out for the new design. We also don’t have the release date for the upcoming drop, so it may still be a few weeks (even a month or two) away before we can get our hands (if you’re lucky that is) on a fresh pair of Yeezys.
In summary… Having parted ways with Kanye West in 2022, why does adidas still have stock of Yeezy sneakers worth $300m in 2024? We don’t know. But it is a little strange. That said, we can’t wait to get our hands on some of these releases.
Do you think adidas continued to manufacture Yeezy sneakers after the partnership with Kanye West ended? Take a look back at the best Yeezy sneaker releases of all time.
