'Shackle Shoes' Pulled From Production After Outcry
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) Thirty percent of people who responded to a CBS Detroit poll Monday said they wouldn't buy Adidas' "shackle shoes" because they were racist -- and another 45 percent said they wouldn't because they're ugly.
That poll apparently matched the national mood because just a few hours after defending the shoes that had bright orange ankle shackles, the company announced they were pulling the shoes from production. The sneakers were unveiled on Facebook Monday and set to go on sale in August.
After more than 3,500 comments on the company's Facebook page -- much of it negative -- Adidas issued a statement to the New York Daily News defending the design.
"The design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott's outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery," the statement said.
But after the onslaught of negative press continued, including an outcry from Rev. Jesse Jackson, the shoe company changed its tune. Jackson wrote a blog for Huffington Post calling the shoes "human degradation."
"Since the shoe debuted on our Facebook page ahead of its market release in August, Adidas has received both favorable and critical feedback. We apologize if people are offended by the design and we are withdrawing our plans to make them available in the marketplace," the company later said in a statement to the Daily News.
Brian Atkinson weighed in on the Facebook page, writing, "Adidas. Please check with me for approval of all you future shoe designs. This has to be the most ignorant ploy for shoe marketing -ever witnessed to date! Imagine. Your son walking in public with his pants hanging down with shackles shoes. Utterly pitiful."
But not everyone was happy with the decision.
"I WANT THOSE MORE THAN THE AIR YEEZY 2!!!!! and the yeezys are crack fa the feet!" one man wrote on Facebook, referencing the Kanye West designed sneakers that some metro Detroiters waited in line for four days to pay $1,000 for a couple of weeks ago.
