Entertainment
Kanye West suing Walmart for ‘ripping off’ his Yeezy Foam Runner shoes
Kanye West is reportedly suing Walmart for selling alleged knock-off footwear similar to his Yeezy Foam Runner shoes.
The 44-year-old rapper’s legal team has alleged in the lawsuit that they had already reached out to the retail company about the issue, according to The Blast.
The rapper’s lawyers claimed to have provided photos of the two shoes for comparison, highlighting the similarities of the ‘Daeful Mens Womens Kids Summer Beach Shoes Foam Runner Anti Slipper Sandals’.
The unique-looking Foam Runner footwear was designed by the Gold Digger rapper in 2019 and made headlines due to the simple design.
The shoe – which was first worn by his eldest daughter North West – features no laces or moving parts, and has large holes along the side.
They first sold for $75 a pair, and sold out pretty much instantly as they sent sneakerheads into a frenzy.
The rapper said in the legal documents that ‘Walmart is flagrantly trading off of his and Yeezy brand’s popularity by offering for sale an imitation version of the Yeezy Foam Runner.’
The Blast noted that the lawsuit claimed that the conduct from Walmart is ‘harming’ the Jesus Walks rapper and his Yeezy brand.
The document read: ‘Walmart’s conduct is harming and will continue to harm, West and Yeezy, leaving them no choice but (to sue) to stop Walmart’s unfair competition and profiting from the popularity of the success of West and Yeezy.’
The fashion desinger’s legal team noted that the Yeezy brand is worth ‘billions’ of dollars and the imitation shoe could result in the loss of ‘hundreds of millions’ of dollars.
They also claim that Yeezy is ‘losing market shares’ with the imitation shoes allegedly harming the reputation and the goodwill of his brand.
Walmart has since issued a statement to TMZ explained that the product in question was being sold via their platform by a reseller, and not the company itself.
‘The product referenced in the complaint is not sold by Walmart, but rather by third party Marketplace sellers,’ a company rep told the outlet.
‘We take allegations like this seriously and are reviewing the claim. We will respond in court as appropriate after we have been served with the complaint.’
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
