Maybe I’m just not seeing it here, but how is continuing to sell these shoes not reinforcing Kanye’s brand? I understand they’re donating some revenue to a good cause, but the article also makes it sound like Adidas is still making a healthy profit off these shoes. This just reeks of corporate pandering and virtue signaling. If Adidas really wanted to make a difference, they could take what they need to cover their costs and donate substantially more than that $10 million.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Adidas brought in 400 million euros ($437 million) from the first release of Yeezy sneakers left over after breaking ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, as the German sportswear maker tries to offload the unsold shoes and donate part of the proceeds to groups fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate.

The first batch of shoes sold in June helped the company reach an operating profit of 176 million euros in the second quarter, better than it originally planned, Adidas said in a statement Thursday.

After Ye’s antisemitic and other offensive comments led the company to end its partnership with the rapper in October, Adidas has sought a way to dispose of 1.2 billion euros worth of the high-end shoes in a responsible way.

“This is much better than destroying and writing off the inventory and allows us to make substantial donations to organizations like the Anti-Defamation League, the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change and Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism,” Gulden said.

The blow-up of the Ye partnership put Adidas in a precarious position because of the popularity of the Yeezy line, and it faced growing pressure to end ties last year as other companies cut off the rapper.

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