Kanye West Sues Walmart for Selling Fake YEEZY Foam Runners

Replica and unauthorized footwear have been a catastrophic problem for footwear brands of late — perhaps self-caused given the big brand’s move to exclusivity and the end-user constantly missing out. And with the fakes becoming both more realistic and, in some circles, more accepted than it once was, the market has never been bigger. And while you’d expect to find fakes galore on sites like Taobao, you wouldn’t expect to see them in America’s own Walmart.

Well-known to purvey goods from third-party vendors, Walmart is in the hot seat for offering — what Kanye claims to be — an “unauthorized exact copy” of the YEEZY Foam Runner silhouette. And, as you can see from the since-removed items for sale pictured below, he’s not wrong. Kanye West’s side has reportedly sent a legal warning to Walmart, requesting they remove the shoes from the site, which only now seems to have been honored.

Of course, this isn’t the first legal run-in between the two parties, with Walmart claiming that YEEZY Brand ciphered their logo, and lodging a legal contest back in April.