Adidas CEO: Kanye West, creativity is worth the risk

Kanye West, who designs and develops his Yeezy line with Adidas, is one of the most famous collaborators of the sportswear company.

He is also one of the most polarizing, almost constantly in the headlines to explain his penchant for saying things that many people consider controversial. On Thursday, he met with President Donald Trump, one of the most polarizing personalities in the world, and apparently released a 10-minute monologue.

But West's sometimes erratic behavior does not worry about Adidas leadership.

"When you have an economic model like ours, there are of course liabilities, but also opportunities that go hand in hand," said Kasper Rorsted, Adidas global CEO, at Business Insider at the time of the meeting. an interview earlier this week.

He went on to say that if a major asset for the brand, such as an employee or a sports star, behaved badly, "this could possibly have a negative impact on the perception of the brand".

Rorsted pointed out that Adidas is exercising due diligence in choosing its collaborators.

"Of course, we examine what they bring to the table and represent certain points of view that do not correspond to our values," he said.

But, Rorsted said that he was not too worried about what they are saying something controversial.

"When you talk to people who are very creative, their behavior is different, their behavior is part of the equation, what they bring to the table. different, "said Rorsted. "If you want the general public, you get the general public all the way."

"If you want the ultimate creativity, then you get it, and you have to live with the fact that sometimes, a person will say something that you may not have subscribed to, but that you do not have it. others can subscribe to this, "said Rorsted. continued.

"We operate in 75 countries.If you start putting glasses of relevance, is it your choice? Is it mine? Is it the one that is in China? Which really measures the level of relevance on which the company is judged? "

Rorsted said that Adidas had "virtually no political views", but that he was taking a stand on issues such as sustainability, fair trade and work.

"Frankly, we can not have any opinion on politics," Rorsted said. "There are 75 countries [that Adidas does business in]By default, you have 75 different government systems. "