Kanye West signs deal with Adidas

Kanye West has ended his long-running partnership with Nike to take up an offer from one of the brand's biggest rivals - Adidas.
Related articles

The rapper announced the "official, non-official, official" deal on the Angie Martinez radio show yesterday, explaining that he's taken on the collaboration as he was thinking about his daughter North's financial future.

"The old me, without a daughter, would have taken the Nike deal because I just love Nikes so much," he said. "But the new me, with a daughter, takes the Adidas deal because I have royalties and I have to provide for my family."

WATCH: Nick Knight directs Kanye West's Bound 2 music video

West has designed two sell-out trainers for Nike, the Air Yeezy and Air Yeezy II, since 2009. His third and final design, the Air Yeezy II in red (dubbed 'Red October'), is set for release soon - and demand is expected to be even higher as it will be his swan song sneaker for the brand.

Nike denied West any royalties from the sales, citing the fact that he is not an athlete as the reason - unlike Michael Jordan for example, who receives royalties from the sales of any Jordan-branded products.

The news comes after a number of fashion-focused rants from the rapper - creative director of Saint Laurent, Hedi Slimane, and Louis Vuitton have both been targeted. The former for not treating him like 'a God', and the latter for refusing to meet with him in Paris.

READ: Maison Martin Margiela outfit Kanye West for Yeezus tour

Though Adidas is yet to formally announce the collaboration, it is rumoured that they have additionally agreed to give West his own design facility. The aspiring fashion designer will be in good company at the brand - Stella McCartney, Yohji Yamamoto, Jeremy Scott and Dior's Raf Simons all have creative partnerships with Adidas.

"I am going to be the Tupac of product," he added on the radio show."I'm going to be the first hip-hop designer and because of that I'm going to be bigger than Walmart."