What led to Beyoncé and Adidas mutually ending their partnership?

Beyoncé and Adidas have mutually agreed to part ways, according to the latest media reports.

Global superstar Beyoncé and German lifestyle brand Adidas have had a successful partnership since 2018 when the Grammy Award-winning icon relaunched her Ivy Park line along with new footwear and apparel collections for the brand. However, according to an exclusive report in The Hollywood Reporter, the songstress and the brand have mutually agreed to end the partnership.

THR goes on to report that this comes amidst “major creative differences” between Ivy Park and Adidas and that Beyoncé is looking forward to reclaiming her brand and charting a new path while also maintaining her creative freedom. Ivy Park came into being in 2016 when the musician and entrepreneur launched it in a joint venture with Sir Philip Green of Topshop. Beyoncé then gained full ownership of Ivy Park in 2018.

Ivy Park’s first collection in partnership with Adidas launched in 2019 and was accompanied by a behemoth campaign with massive orange boxes being sent to public personalities like Cardi B, Missy Elliott, Kendall Jenner, Angela Bassett and Hailey Beiber. This year, a February 8 report in The Wall Street Journal stated that the inclusive streetwear line “produced weak sales” and caused a “roughly $200 million hole in the company’s annual projections”.

The report went on to state that sales for Ivy Park dropped by more than 50 per cent to around $40 million in 2022.

Adidas had told WSJ that their partnership with Ivy Park is strong and successful and that the company continues to be inspired by their “collective vision and are proud of the work we have created together”. A spokeswoman for Beyoncé didn’t respond to requests for comments from the publication.

“Adidas executives expected hundreds of millions of dollars in Ivy Park sales and promised Beyoncé guaranteed annual fees and creative control, the people familiar with the matter said. But it soon became clear that Ivy Park collections weren’t gaining the traction that Yeezy products did,” the WSJ report goes on to add.