By Glen Harvey
Adidas has seen resurgence, led by none other than Kanye West who has voiced his discomfort with former business partner Nike. “Listen to the kids bro”, he shouted during the MTV awards. At the time the fans were unsure what he meant by this, but the truth is surfacing that The Yeezy’s jumped over the Jumpman.
Perhaps Adidas will do some big Lebron style deal or …
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 16, 2016
Hints began back in February from his twitter account soon after The Life of Pablo initially streamed that some type of long term deal would soon be in place. With Yeezy boosts selling out in seconds countless times and three seasons of YEEZY apparel sold at high end stores, the designers’ talents are finally appreciated. Adidas provided Kanye with the dream he yearned for, that supreme designing that he expressed in countless interviews. YEEZY retail stores spread through social media late June, as The announcement came from CEO Eric Liedtke.
With people craving another colorway/addition to the hottest shoe of the last 2 years, now can see his vision under one roof. It’s been a rollercoaster ride, from Kanye begging for a chance to showcase his talents, to now with his own retail store(s) soon to open with a major company. Being confident that his creativity can, “change the world” seems to be flourishing with Adidas.
In fact, Kanye trusted his creativity so much that he financed the design of the original Yeezy with NIKE, banking on a long term deal. He then was spurned by the company as they cut off all ties and there’s been bashing on Phil Knight (Nike Co-founder) ever since. His thoughts of Nike showed as he dedicated a song on New Years’ eve titled Facts (the first full diss track on the company). Actually while we are on the topic of a diss, he initially started on Tyler the Creator single Smuckers, in which he takes credit as the only person to ever check Nike (pun intended). His comments toward the company through music wasn’t enough, going as far as telling a fan at JFK airport to throw the shoes he wore that day in the trash (of course they were Nike) in order to receive a free pair of Yeezy boost.
According to businessinsider.com Adidas is the most like sneaker brand over Nike by quite the large margin, racking up 78.8 million likes over the opponent who tallied less than 30 million. Not a friend of math? Here’s an analogy for you, if this were basketball, Kanye is the lottery draft pick everyone knew had talent but needed time to work out the character issues and is now going against you in the NBA Finals, in fact beating you. No time range on when the stores are set to open, but with the way things have been going, Nike may regret not doing this same thing with the artist just a few years ago.
