Kanye West slams Adidas, Jerry Lorenzo, and collaborators over Yeezy success and loyalty disputes

Ye targets Adidas and Jerry Lorenzo, revisiting past conflicts while celebrating Yeezy’s success and affordability.

Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, took to Instagram on Tuesday night to express frustrations with Adidas, designer Jerry Lorenzo, and what he called "fake friends."

In a pointed message, Ye accused Adidas of prioritizing its website over Yeezy.com in search results and freezing his accounts during their partnership. "When you google Yeezy.com the adidas site comes before the Yeezy site," he wrote, alleging the brand tried to “hold me back” and intimidate him.

Ye’s grievances with Adidas stem from longstanding creative disputes, including accusations of design theft and oppressive practices. Their partnership officially ended in 2022 following Ye’s controversial remarks, which sparked a legal battle. In 2024, both parties reached an out-of-court settlement, resolving the dispute without payments exchanged. Despite these issues, Ye highlighted Yeezy’s independent success, noting that the brand made $100 million in just six months of operation in 2023, even amid logistical challenges.

Ye’s post also targeted Jerry Lorenzo, the creative director of Adidas Basketball and founder of Fear of God. Ye described Lorenzo as "corny and disloyal" for collaborating with Adidas after Ye’s fallout with the brand. The partnership between Adidas and Fear of God began in 2020, and the first full collection launched in late 2023. Ye attended Lorenzo’s 2023 Fear of God show but now regrets the gesture, claiming he was attempting to be the "bigger man."

Transitioning from criticism, Ye celebrated Yeezy’s unique position in the luxury fashion market, emphasizing its accessible $20 price point. He noted that over a million pairs of Yeezy pods had been sold and teased ten new styles in development. "It’s Yeezy over everything," he wrote, adding that others had exploited their association with him to promote weaker clothing lines.

Ye’s history of public disputes in the fashion industry adds context to his latest comments. His fallout with Tremaine Emory in 2022, sparked by Ye’s remarks about the late Virgil Abloh, highlighted recurring tensions with collaborators. Similarly, Jerry Lorenzo has acknowledged the challenges of working with Ye, noting in a 2023 interview that their professional relationship ended in 2016.

Ye’s latest statements underline his ongoing conflicts with former collaborators, while also reinforcing his identity as a disruptor in the fashion world.