Ye unveiled Yeezy’s first sneaker after Adidas fired him for anti-Semitic statements.
The musician, formerly known as Kanye West, debuted a folding sock shoe named “YZY POD” in an X post late Thursday.
“Our first product since being freed from Adidas is now available for pre-order at yeezy.com for $200.” Accept no imitations,” the image’s caption added.
Ye also revealed on Wednesday that Yeezy has appointed Gosha Rubchinskiy as its new design director. The Russian designer previously teamed with Adidas in 2017 to develop a line of clothes and footwear, as originally reported by Business of Fashion.
Adidas ended its collaboration with Ye and his apparel and footwear label Yeezy in October 2022. The separation came when Ye made antisemitic remarks against X in a since-deleted tweet, stating that he would be “going deаth con 3 on Jewish people.”
In May, the German sportswear behemoth revealed that it will sell portions of its Yeezy collaborative inventory valued 1.2 billiоn euros ($1.3 billiоn).
CEO Bjrn Gulden said during the company’s annual general meeting that the earnings will be donated to charities that “were also hurt by Kanye’s statements.”
Yeezy’s previous chief operations officer, Udi Avshalom, told Business Insider at the time that the choice was a “smart move.”
Adidas said in August that it generated about $437 million from the first wave of Yeezy shoe sales and that another batch in 2024 is projected to sell even more.
When Adidas severed its agreement, other firms, including Balenciaga, Gap, and Footlocker, removed Yeezy merchandise from their shops due to Ye’s statements.
Ye made further contentious statements in his newly released song “Vultures,” causing the American Jewish Committee to inform TMZ that the song’s lyrics were “pathetic” and “sad.”
Adidas and Yeezy did not react quickly to BI’s requests for comment.