There has been a lot of criticism thrown at adidas since its big-time signing of Kanye West. Many wondered if he could bring back the brand's relevancy and make it compete with Nike for the no. 1 spot in the footwear industry. There were doubters, and they had good reason. Last September, adidas relinquished its no.2 position amongst "sports" companies in the U.S. when it was passed by upstart Under Armour.
But there's reason to be optimistic about adidas, too. A recent report of the German brand's stock shows that it's been on the rise since January 2015, a month before it officially announced that it was going to release the Yeezy 750 Boost, Kanye's first sneaker with the company.
At this moment, it's difficult to verify that adidas' stock value is directly correlated to the press and reaction of the Yeezy Boost getting put on the market in limited numbers. The brand, however, is approaching the level it was at during the 2014 World Cup, when it had two of its sponsored nations — Germany and Argentina — in the final match.
In comparison, Reebok, who signed Jay Z to a sneaker deal in 2003, also saw a spike in its stock value around the time that the S. Carter sneakers, Jay Z's signature model with the brand, were released.
[Reebok's stock value in the '90s and '00s]
If Kanye is able to compare himself to Michael Jordan by rapping, "The Yeezys jumped over the Jumpman," then it's fair to compare adidas' current stock ascent to Nike's when the Air Jordan 1 was released in March 1985. In statistics provided by Yahoo, it shows that Nike's stock nearly doubled from January 1985 to December of the same year.
[Nike's stock value during 1985]
As for adidas, the brand has more Kanye-designed product on the way. The Yeezy 350 Boost, the low-top, Roshe-like sneaker from his first collection, has yet to release and none of the season's apparel has made its way to retail, either. It's simply speculative at this point to say that these items will have a positive or negative effect on adidas' overall worth as a brand, but it's certainly a step in right direction, if we can use the Internet's reaction as a barometer.
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*A previous version of this article referred to adidas as a "sneaker" brand instead of "sports."
