Source: Brad Barket / Getty
According to paperwork obtained by TMZ, Kanye West has filed a lawsuit against Walmart for selling a bootleg version of Yeezy Foam Runner. West’s sneakers originally hit the market last year and were selling for $75 a pair. However, a similar-looking shoe was spotted on Walmart’s website and can be bought for about one-third of the price of West’s Foam Runners. The rapper believes that Fortune 500’s No. 1 company intentionally did this to mislead the general public and nab a slice of his profits.
West’s court documents allege that Walmart produced an “unauthorized exact copy” of his sneakers and began selling them on its site, so he reached out to Walmart and requested that it stop. But he says Walmart paid him no mind and proceeded to cash in on the knockoffs.
Walmart has not assumed direct responsibility for the mix-up, though. “The product referenced in the complaint is not sold by Walmart,” the retail giant told TMZ in a statement, “but rather by third-party Marketplace sellers. 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.”
But the American retailer is not the only way consumers can get imitation Foam Runners. International e-commerce giant Wish also carries footwear that has an oddly similar styling to the Yeezy Runners. In fact, the “coconut cave shoes” use the rapper’s name in their description.
This news comes as West reportedly treads on thin ice with Adidas. Although he is still under contract with Three Stripes for five more years, West has been caught wearing Nikes on multiple occasions. He even alluded to them as a possible payment for slavery.
“In my Adidas contract, [I] definitely should be able to wear Jordans,” he said last year on Cannon’s Class. “Jordans need to be part of reparations. You can’t tell a Black man not to wear Jordans. It should be in any deal.”
