--- title: The History of Adidas' Ties to the Nazis, Amid Kanye Split description: The German sportswear giant ends its partnership with Ye, aka Kanye West, over his antisemitic comments. The controversy has put a spotlight on the company's historical involvement with the Nazi Party. canonical: https://time.com/6224899/adidas-kanye-west-antisemitism-nazis/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-10-26T20:48:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:51:31.647Z article:section: History og:title: The History of Adidas' Ties to the Nazis Amid the Kanye Controversy og:description: The German sportswear giant ends its partnership with Ye, aka Kanye West, over his antisemitic comments. The controversy has put a spotlight on the company's historical involvement with the Nazi Party. og:url: https://time.com/6224899/adidas-kanye-west-antisemitism-nazis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6fceab98cdf50b4/698a36b8d07533474ae6d599/Kanye-West-Adidas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: adidas + KANYE WEST New Partnership Announcement og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The History of Adidas' Ties to the Nazis Amid the Kanye Controversy twitter:description: The German sportswear giant ends its partnership with Ye, aka Kanye West, over his antisemitic comments. The controversy has put a spotlight on the company's historical involvement with the Nazi Party. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6fceab98cdf50b4/698a36b8d07533474ae6d599/Kanye-West-Adidas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Adidas' Dark History Is in the Spotlight as It Ends Deal With Kanye West Over His Antisemitic Comments > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Designers Christian Siriano and Aurora James: Brands 'Get in Their Own Way' Instead of Embracing Inclusivity [Watch (HLS stream): Designers Christian Siriano and Aurora James: Brands 'Get in Their Own Way' Instead of Embracing Inclusivity](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PiPNr3J0.m3u8) (4:54)  _Published 2022-06-07. Luxury womenswear designer Christian Siriano says that big brands often “get in their own way” when it comes to embracing inclusivity in the fashion industry. Speaking to Tyra Banks and Aurora James at the TIME 100 Summit on Tuesday, Siriano criticized brands that market diversity without representing it in their clothing lines or models._  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Oct 26, 2022 8:48 PM UTC  Kanye West at Milk Studios on June 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif. Kanye West at Milk Studios on June 28, 2016 in Hollywood, Calif.Jonathan Leibson–Getty Images for Adidas  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Oct 26, 2022 8:48 PM UTC The Grammy Award-winning rapper [Kanye West](https://time.com/5260308/kanye-west-tweets-history-blacks-republicans-democrats/), who now goes by Ye, has become persona non grata after [promoting antisemitic tropes about Jewish power and control](https://www.adl.org/resources/letter/adl-letter-adidas-executives-regarding-kanye-west) and making antisemitic comments in interviews and on social media. In one case, he was banned from Twitter after tweeting that he would go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” On Tuesday, following on the heels of several other companies that spoke out against the star, German sportswear brand Adidas announced that it is cutting ties with [West](https://time.com/5411662/kanye-west-13th-amendment-tweets-fact-check/) and ending production of Yeezy branded products, effective immediately. The company said that terminating the partnership will cost it [at least $250 million this year.](https://time.com/6224887/adidas-drops-kanye-business-implications/) “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the brand said in [a statement](https://www.adidas-group.com/en/media/news-archive/press-releases/2022/adidas-terminates-partnership-ye-immediately/). “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.” Of all of the [companies cutting ties with West](https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/10/25/adidas-drops-kanye-west-here-are-the-other-companies-cutting-ties-after-his-anti-semitic-comments/?sh=2abc0ce8baae), Adidas is noteworthy because of the size of its deal with West and the fact that it was slow to renounce him, only doing so after organizations like the [Anti-Defamation League](https://www.adl.org/resources/letter/adl-letter-adidas-executives-regarding-kanye-west) and[ a social media campaign](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/10/25/adidas-kanye-west-partnership-ends/) called the company out. As Adidas faced pressure to cut ties, some argued that the company’s obligations were higher given its historical association with Germany’s Nazi Party. An Adidas spokesperson declined to comment on the company’s history. --- ### More from TIME --- Adidas founders Adi and Rudi Dassler were members of the [Nazi party](https://time.com/6047155/final-account-holocaust-documentary/)—joining in 1933, the same year [Adolf Hitler](https://time.com/5903486/hilter-history-biden-trump-debate/) became Chancellor. The German shoe brand, launched in the 1920s, was one of many German companies to cooperate with the Nazi party during the 1930s and 1940s. (The Adidas corporate site does not mention this history—framing the period of 1900-1949 as “only the start of our story.”) **Read more:** [Why History Needs World War II Stories of “Ordinary Nazis”](https://time.com/5854001/nazi-memories/) In the 1930s, many German businesses thought that [Nazi economic policy](https://time.com/5884522/hitler-ascent-lesson/) would be good for business, since the country achieved “the fastest recovery from the depression of any industrialized country,” says Peter Hayes, an expert on the conduct of Germany’s largest corporations during the Third Reich and emeritus professor of History at Northwestern University. “Every major firm that you’ve ever heard of, in Germany, that is still around and was around then, was implicated in the crimes of the Nazi state.” While there were small companies like Hugo Boss that grew by [making the uniforms for SS officers](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-15008682), many other companies faced little demand for clothing because textiles were diverted for military uniforms. So, the Nazis shifted their factory sites into armaments production—though the clothing companies mostly did not run these operations**.** “\[Adidas\] didn’t make anything vital to the Nazi program until the plant was converted to making munitions during the war, like most German producers of things people wore,” Hayes says. “The firm almost certainly didn’t make the munitions.” In recent years, German companies have made efforts to make amends for their [Nazi pasts](https://time.com/5772360/german-holocaust-memory/). In 2000, German companies partnered with Jewish organizations and the U.S. government to form the foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future, which paid reparations to people used as Nazi slave laborers. At the end of the day, Hayes argues companies are thinking about what’s best for their bottom line, first and foremost: “Corporations quickly detach themselves from characters like \[West\] for the same reason that they became involved with the [Nazis](https://time.com/5832549/world-war-ii-memory/) in the first place, which is commercial advantage. Kanye became commercially damaging.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6224899/adidas-kanye-west-antisemitism-nazis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6224899/adidas-kanye-west-antisemitism-nazis/"},"headline":"Adidas' Dark History Is in the Spotlight as It Ends Deal With Kanye West Over His Antisemitic Comments","datePublished":"2022-10-26T20:48:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:51:31.647Z","description":"The German sportswear giant ends its partnership with Ye, aka Kanye West, over his antisemitic comments. 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