Jerry Lorenzo Confirms the Fear of God Athletics adidas Partnership Ends After 2025

The writing was clearly on the wall for Jerry Lorenzo’s Fear of God Athletics partnership with adidas from the jump, but the founder himself has finally confirmed what we have all long suspected. After this year, adidas Fear of God Athletics will be no more. Talking to Aria Hughes, editor-in-chief of Complex, on the show “PLEASE EXPLAIN,” Lorenzo spoke about his relationship with adidas, stating, “Our partnership ends at the end of December.”

He explained that the decision not to renew the contract with adidas was mutual and that Fear of God “answered what we were called to do” and the team “learned a lot.” His intention going into the partnership was to create performance product through the lens of Fear of God, but issues arose early on. “I think it got tough throughout the relationship as I probably went through six or seven different leads on the project on their side, and my side never changed.”

Lorenzo continued to explain that multiple iterations of footwear would get close to market before changes were requested. “Our shoes never got quite to where I wanted them to go. I’m not saying this is adidas’ fault, they had the best intentions in trying to get this product to where it needed to get to, but I think there was just a lot of personnel changes.”

Jerry’s journey with adidas began in 2020 when it was announced that Lorenzo would establish a new Fear of God label with The Three Stripes dubbed Fear of God Athletics. Lorenzo was coming off a multi-year deal with Nike that began in 2018 where he released a handful of different models, including the Fear of God 1, Fear of God Moc, and Fear of God versions of Nike sneakers like the Air Skylon 2 and Air Raid. The relationship between The Swoosh and FOG fell through, with insiders citing creative differences.

We would get our first glimpse of Fear of God Athletics when Lorenzo was spotted courtside at a Lakers game with a butter yellow Fear of God Athletics hoodie in December 2021. A small release took place in person in China, but the public would have to wait until April 2023 before we got a look at the footwear side of the partnership.

Fear of God’s Hollywood Bowl show presented both the mainline Fear of God label’s upcoming collection alongside pieces from the adidas partnership. Public reception was lackluster, to say the least. Jerry’s design language barely shifted compared to his Nike silhouettes, and leaks over the following months didn’t help in any way.

Finally, three years after the initial announcement, and Fear of God Athletics released sneakers and apparel en masse in December 2023. Since then, the label has dropped a handful of models, the Basketball I, 86 Hi, Los Angeles Runner, Los Angeles Hiker, Trainer, and Basketball II. Teasers of the Basketball III just appeared earlier this week, but even with the partnership ending in less than three weeks, Lorenzo confirmed the sneaker will still release.

Where will Fear of God’s sneaker partnerships go from here? Nobody knows. When asked if he was interested in partnering with another large athletic brand, Lorezno said, “If we see things the same way and we go about this in a way that’s pushing both houses to where they’re called to be, then yes I’m interested.”

Nicholas Vlahos

Sneakerhead from South Florida who turned his passion into a career. When not writing for Sole Retriever, I enjoy attending concerts, catching the latest movies, and trying new food. Email: nick@soleretriever.com