Source: ADIDAS / Ivy Park
Sales of Beyoncé’s Ivy Park clothing line, which is in partnership with adidas, are reportedly down 50%. The news certainly raises eyebrows since anything affiliated with Queen Bey is easy money, right?
While Ivy Park certainly sells, it seems like it didn’t live up to adidas’ projections, which are being described as “weak sales.”
Reports the Wall Street Journal:
Beyoncé’s fashion partnership with Adidas has produced weak sales of her Ivy Park clothing brand, according to documents and people familiar with the matter, leaving a roughly $200 million hole in the company’s annual projections.
Sales of Ivy Park tumbled by more than 50% to about $40 million in 2022—coming in below internal Adidas projections for $250 million in sales that year, documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show. The documents show Ivy Park has been losing money for Adidas and Beyoncé gets about $20 million in annual compensation.
The contract between the pop star, whose full name is Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, and the German sneaker giant is set to end after 2023, and Adidas executives have discussed either ending or revamping the arrangement, the people said.
This news draws a contrast to the sales of Beyoncé’s forthcoming world tour. With tickets going for hundreds of dollars they’ve nevertheless been selling out shortly after availability. However, Ivy Park product has reportedly been sitting.
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.
Ivy Park features inclusive sizing and gender-neutral styles. Along with neon-colored sweatsuits and sneakers, it also has dresses and accessories. Many of the Ivy Park products have failed to sell, the documents show. In five of the last six Ivy Park releases, roughly half of the merchandise that was produced went unsold, the documents show.
Ivy Park debuted back in 2016, and at the time was in partnership with the Topshop brand. She then acquired full ownership of the brand in 2018, before partnering with adidas a year later.
The issue could be that despite “weak” sales, Bey is still going to get her coins regardless.
Ivy Park sales were on track to hit about $40 million at the end of last year, down from $93 million in 2021, according to the documents. For 2023, the documents show Ivy Park sales are projected to reach $65 million, compared with an earlier Adidas target of reaching $335 million.
Adidas was on track to lose at least $10 million on the partnership in 2022, according to the documents. Meanwhile, Beyoncé was slated to receive about $20 million in compensation, the same as previous years, the documents show.
If Ivy Park and adidas do eventually go their separate ways, where will Bey go next? You can bet brands like a Nike or Lululemon or doing the Birdman handr ub.
