Members of the UAE's thriving shoe collectors scene are choosing to wait instead of selling off their hauls of the hugely popular Yeezy shoes.
On Wednesday, Google searches for the phrase "sell Yeezy" skyrocketed by 581 per cent according to data commissioned by Celeb Tattler, following news that adidas was severing ties with the brand's founder Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
Months after saying it was putting the relationship "under review", the German sportswear retailer announced it had decided to end the hugely successful partnership with Ye on Tuesday, following a series of anti-Semitic comments.
“Adidas does not tolerate anti-Semitism and any other sort of hate speech," adidas said. “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness."
The break-up has created a morass over the future of the brand, valued to be between $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion by investment bank UBS Group. It has also set off a flurry of activities within shoe collector communities, many of whom buy, hold and resell Yeezy models for huge sums of money.
"The entire shoe reselling market was built around Yeezys. It was the brand that started it all," says Kevin Ghassemi, founder of online shoe reselling store Snkr Bubble.
Ghassemi, 18, who turned his hobby into a thriving business in Dubai last year, says he's holding on to his 50-plus pairs of Yeezys for now because he believes demand will rise.
"Prices will go up at least by 50 per cent," he tells The National. "In the last few years, the market has been saturated with Yeezys because they've been releasing so many models and colourways, which led to the brand's value going down.
"But now that production will stop, the brand will be more hyped."
A collector in Dubai, who prefers to be called Foundamatch Marvs, says the split between Ye and adidas is great for resellers because it will increase the price of their existing stock.
"I am going to keep my shoes for a while and sell when the price is right," he says.
Shoe collectors in the UAE and elsewhere prefer to keep a low profile as reselling for profit is frowned upon by retailers, although it is now a multi-million dollar industry globally.
Ridwane Ettoubi, the co-founder and chief executive of Presentedby, the luxury sneaker consignment brand, predicts it will take about 12 to 18 months for the prices of Yeezys to "substantially increase".
Presentedby sells a range of highly coveted, luxury and limited-edition shoes and streetwear at its stores in Dubai, Doha and Riyadh, as well as London and Paris.
How exactly the divide between adidas and Ye will affect the intellectual property rights of the Yeezy brand remains to be seen, however. While Ye’s company, Mascotte Holdings Inc, holds a portfolio of more than 160 trademarked applications and registrations for his Yeezy brand, adidas owns the rights to the designs of most Yeezy shoes, including the well-known Yeezy Boost 350, according to Bloomberg.
Adidas said it would end production of Yeezy-branded products and stop all payments to Ye immediately, a move that would cost adidas a loss of approximately $247 million in net income. The Yeezy collaboration is responsible for as much as 8 per cent of adidas's revenue.
One shoe industry insider who did not wish to be named, tells The National that a market without Yeezys will cause "a huge shift in sneaker culture".
"Because Kanye West products were really the starting point of the whole reselling culture, the reselling industry could also die," he says. "Nike is flooding the market with greater allocations of stock of Jordan 1s and Dunks due to the closure of Russian stores and the China restrictions caused by Covid-19."
For now, the insider says, it's best for collectors to hold on to their stocks.
"We don’t know if Yeezys will gain value or completely disintegrate, but it's worth the risk," he says.
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Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
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This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
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The National selections
Al Ain
5pm: Bolereau
5.30pm: Rich And Famous
6pm: Duc De Faust
6.30pm: Al Thoura
7pm: AF Arrab
7.30pm: Al Jazi
8pm: Futoon
Jebel Ali
1.45pm: AF Kal Noor
2.15pm: Galaxy Road
2.45pm: Dark Thunder
3.15pm: Inverleigh
3.45pm: Bawaasil
4.15pm: Initial
4.45pm: Tafaakhor
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Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
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New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
How does ToTok work?
The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store
To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.
The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.
Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
Why your domicile status is important
Your UK residence status is assessed using the statutory residence test. While your residence status – ie where you live - is assessed every year, your domicile status is assessed over your lifetime.
Your domicile of origin generally comes from your parents and if your parents were not married, then it is decided by your father. Your domicile is generally the country your father considered his permanent home when you were born.
UK residents who have their permanent home ("domicile") outside the UK may not have to pay UK tax on foreign income. For example, they do not pay tax on foreign income or gains if they are less than £2,000 in the tax year and do not transfer that gain to a UK bank account.
A UK-domiciled person, however, is liable for UK tax on their worldwide income and gains when they are resident in the UK.
