The billion-dollar question: what will Adidas do with all those Yeezys?

theguardian.com:

Melt them down and turn them into Crocs? Scrape off the label and hope no one notices?

What Adidas should do with all its unsold Yeezys is a €1.2bn ($1.3bn, £1bn) question that no one seems to have a very good answer for. The brand is in danger after it cut ties with Kanye West in October over his antisemitic comments.

The rapper, who now goes by Ye, was a huge profit driver for the company. A pair of his signature chunky rubber Yeezy 350 V2s went for about $220 (and was often resold for many times its retail price). Ye rescued Adidas, freshening up the brand’s image and allowing it to compete with heavy hitters like Nike’s Air Jordans. Following Ye’s series of pro-Nazi tirades, that image is a shambles, with Adidas shares plunging 10% last week after the company announced its potential loss of revenue.

It’s also ignited an ethical dilemma. How does Adidas discard the items that caused a PR nightmare without triggering another outrage over waste? It’s the first major test of leadership for the company’s new CEO, Bjørn Gulden, who is fresh off a job at Puma.

“The numbers speak for themselves. We are currently not performing the way we should,” Gulden, who started in January, said. “2023 will be a year of transition to set the base to again be a growing and profitable company.”

Adidas drew widespread criticism last fall for taking over a week to sever the deal with Ye, after he said on a podcast: “I can say antisemitic things, and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what?”

Experts say what the brand does with the sneakers could be a chance to make up for its perceived lack of action. “They cannot simply discard the shoes,” said Charcy Evers, a social impact and sustainability advocate. “Adidas could use this as an opportunity to set a new