00:00In 2015, the famous rapper and producer Kanye West partnered with Adidas to create a sneaker
00:17brand that became one of the most influential brands in the world, Yeezy.
00:26This brand grew so fast that by 2020, its revenue reached 14,000 crore rupees.
00:33And it left behind big brands like Jordan.
00:37Despite Yeezy's success, in 2022, after Kanye's controversial statements, Adidas broke its
00:44relationship with him.
00:45Yeezy was historically considered a status symbol for being overpriced.
00:50So why are Yeezy Pods, which were sold for Rs. 16,000, now being sold for Rs. 1,600?
00:56Today, in this episode of 1st A Fashion, we will find out the answer to all these questions.
01:01In the last 12 months, his pre-tax income was Rs. 1,200 crore.
01:05Partly because of his Yeezy apparels.
01:08Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West used to get scolded a lot for sketching sneakers
01:14in middle school.
01:16His fame gave him a chance to return to his first love, sneakers.
01:21In 2007, he designed a shoe for Japanese apparel company, A Bathing Ape, which had a teddy
01:28bear logo, which can also be seen on his early album covers.
01:32Today, if you look for those shoes, they can earn you lakhs of rupees.
01:37When he was sitting on a flight with Nike's CEO, Mark Parker, he took out his notepad
01:44and showed him the sketches.
01:45Parker was impressed and said, this guy is interesting.
01:49Let's make a shoe with him.
01:51This is how Yeezy was born.
01:54This name is actually a short form of Kan Yeezy, which Jay-Z gave him in an intro of a song
01:59in 2000.
02:01Parker gave West a chance to work with Air Jordan's designer, Tinker Hatfield.
02:07Nike Air Yeezy 2 dropped in February 2014.
02:12And these shoes worth 20,000 were sold out in just 11 minutes.
02:26When Nike's sales were increasing, especially after the release of Air Yeezy 2 in 2012,
02:33West felt that the company was treating him like a celebrity.
02:37At that time, Nike was not ready to give royalties to celebrities on their shoes.
02:42And West tweeted in 2016, in which he claimed to be in debt of 450 crores.
02:49And then asked for 8000 crores from Mark Zuckerberg to fund his creative ideas.
02:56His career survived despite all the controversies.
02:59When Adidas executives found out about his dissatisfaction with Nike, they called him
03:06to the company and signed him in 2013.
03:09West gets 15% royalties on wholesale plus a marketing fee.
03:14This deal was a big deal.
03:16Let's do a comparison.
03:18Michael Jordan's royalties are around 5%.
03:22His biggest breakthrough is 350.
03:25West converted trainers into high fashion and made low-top sneakers cool.
03:30His brand was built with his limited releases and surprise drops.
03:35Much like Air Jordan.
03:36The most impressive thing was that West is still the owner of 100% Yeezy.
03:41This is the reason why he became a centi-millionaire long before.
03:46By 2019, West started saying this to himself.
03:50In 2021, he changed his name legally.
03:53And Adidas Yeezy products were sold for more than $1 billion for the first time this year.
03:59But this started spoiling his relationship with Adidas.
04:02Adidas' partnership with Kanye West, which developed the Yeezy brand, ended in 2022.
04:09Adidas employees were already fed up with West.
04:13He used to show them pornographic videos many times.
04:16In this German organization, the employees were asked to upload pictures of Hitler.
04:22And God knows what else.
04:24After this breakup, Adidas had a big share of Yeezy's shoes.
04:28First, they thought of burning the remaining shoes.
04:31But later, they decided to sell them.
04:34Saying that they will donate the money they get to charity.
04:37With this, Adidas sold one batch of Yeezy shoes online and earned 4,000 crores.
04:43Despite the breakup with West and the closure of Yeezy business,
04:47Adidas hopes that their operating profit will double from last year in 2024.
04:55On the other hand, Yeezy also released new designs after this breakup.
04:59With which they successfully marketed.
05:02They took the spot of a 30-second ad in Super Bowl.
05:06Which was priced at $7 million.
05:09After investing so much money, West claims that his money is over.
05:13That's why there was no money left for the actual ad to be made.
05:17He shot this ad sitting in the backseat of his car.
05:22Only with the help of his phone.
05:25And this is my commercial.
05:27And since we spent all the money on the commercial spot,
05:30we actually need to spend more money on the actual commercial.
05:34But the idea is, I want you to go to yeezy.com.
05:38Y-E-E-Z-Y-E-Z.com
05:43And I'm gonna write it in the bottom of the screen.
05:45And I got some shoes.
05:47And...
05:51That's it.
05:53This gamble was successful.
05:55As soon as the ad went on, West got a sale of $19.3 million.
05:59Moreover, his album also moved ahead in the Billboard ranking.
06:03But the pods released in this ad,
06:06which were initially priced at $16,000,
06:08were priced at $1,600 later.
06:10Moreover, their website is not taking any new orders now.
06:13So was this the journey of Yeezy?
06:16And do you have a Yeezy?
06:18Let us know in the comments.
06:20And whether Yeezy's prices are up or down,
06:22our videos will always be free.
06:25But to keep us motivated,
06:27don't forget to like and subscribe.
06:30See you soon!
Comments