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Today, Ye is currently in hot water with a slew of controversial statements in the last few weeks that have led just about every business partner of his to cut ties, including his most successful collaborator - adidas. While morally this was the best decision for the German sportswear giant, the company’s pockets will be hurting going forward as they themselves project to lose around $250 million in revenue in 2022 alone based on the early termination of the Yeezy line on top of losing what one Morgan Stanley analyst claimed was 40% of adidas’ profit. Not only will The Three Stripes take a beating due to the breakup, but so will footwear manufacturers who produce Yeezy silhouettes like the Georgia-based company Okabashi who just announced they will be laying off 142 employees due to the loss of business with adidas.
In a statement by the company to Footwear News, Okabashi stated that “As of right now there are not enough orders to keep all employees busy with work.” The manufacturer was contracted by adidas back in April 2020 to produce select foam-based Yeezy sneakers (namely the Yeezy Foam RNNR) in the USA. Since the initial “Ararat” colorway, a handful of other Foam RNNRs got the Made in USA treatment like the “Sand,” “Ochre,” and “Sulfur,” though there is another facility in Los Angeles, California (EVA USA, LLC) that helped produced the silhouette so we cannot be certain which releases Okabashi produced.
As reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Okabashi was set to create 340 new jobs and invest $20 million over the next 5 years, though this huge loss of work for the brand has put a damp on their future plans. Keep it locked to our Twitter and the Sole Retriever mobile app to stay updated on the latest news, releases, raffles, and more in the sneaker and streetwear world.
