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Adidas defeated an appeal on Wednesday by U.S. shareholders who said the footwear and apparel maker fraudulently concealed antisemitic and other improper behavior by Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, before its partnership with the rapper and fashion designer imploded in 2022. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Adidas did not mislead shareholders in its annual reports by saying improper behavior by partners from the entertainment industry could have a negative spill-over effect on business. “A reasonable investor would know that a partnership with a celebrity partner like Ye would come with inherent risks relating to improper behavior,” a three-judge panel said. The panel also found no intent to defraud, and said Adidas’ disclosure “presents the hypothetical risk as the negative effect of improper behavior, not the improper behavior itself.” Lawyers for the lead plaintiff HLSA-ILA Funds, which serve maritime workers in southeast Virginia, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Adidas did not immediately respond to similar requests. Ye was not a defendant. Shareholders in the proposed class action said they lost money because Adidas’ stock price fell after antisemitic rants led the German company to sever ties with Ye in October 2022, ending a nine-year partnership that in 2021 generated about 1.5 billion euros ($1.75 billion) of sales. The shareholders said Adidas continued the partnership despite being “fully aware” since at least 2018 that Ye routinely made improper comments to its employees and employees at his Yeezy design shop. Adidas began selling leftover Yeezy sneakers in May 2023, pledging to donate some proceeds to groups combating antisemitism, and finished late last year. The company’s sales in North America fell 2% in 2024, “solely due to significantly lower Yeezy sales,” Adidas said in March. Wednesday’s decision upheld an August 2024 dismissal by a federal judge in Portland, Oregon, where Adidas’ North American headquarters are located. Jonathan Stempel, Reuters
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E-Commerce
Theres a very common question asked of people working in space exploration: Why explore space when we have so many problems on Earth? From Wi-Fi, to satellite images of real estate, to matters of national security, much of our daily lives has been made possible by policy changes in the 1990s that permitted the deployment of low-Earth-orbit satellites. But the tangible benefits to space exploration may not always be obvious, according to Jack Kilray, director of government relations for The Planetary Society, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing space science and exploration. What we discover in space invariably helps life on Earth, Kilray said at last months World Changing Ideas Summit, cohosted by Fast Company and Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. These investments in fundamental researchalthough maybe you don’t see those direct comparisons to your life immediatelyhave these knock-on effects for decades after you make that initial discovery and revolutionize the economy, national security, and just our fundamental understanding of the cosmos. And space has evolved to become a critical infrastructure, said Rich Cooper, vice president of strategic communications for the Space Foundation, a nonprofit advocating for space education and exploration. More than 90 countries now have active space operations, and hundreds of companies are operating business interests in spacewhich is why policy efforts must focus on balancing the needs of these various interests, he added. Dealing with space traffic and litter In space, one of the biggest policy challenges right now is managing all of the traffic. Finding the place for a satellite or other instrument, so it doesn’t impact any other operations, is literally threading quite the needle, Cooper said. The policies about how to deal with space litter have improvedgovernments and companies are now required to have a plan in place to prevent the creation of more orbital debris, though more work is still required. Countries as well as companies are looking to be much, much more responsible, but we still have other players that need to be far more responsible than they’ve been, Cooper said. The next era of human exploration Finally, policies must adapt amid the race thats underway to send humans to the moon once again, and eventually to Mars. The good news is that this next era of space exploration is likely to unite people around the globe, Kilray said. It’s no longer just a flags-and-footprints approach, but a sustainable approach to whether it be lunar exploration with crew or scientific exploration of the outer planets or the building of the next great observatory to image habitable worlds around other star systemslike that’s all within our grasp as a species, which is truly amazing, Kilray said. We couldn’t have imagined what was possible today 60 years ago.
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E-Commerce
When the British designer Fred Rigby released his first furniture collection in 2021, he knew from the outset he would prioritize a U.S. audiencea bigger market with more sales opportunities, he says. Rigby designs and manufactures elegantly crafted furniture in the Oxfordshire countryside, and has built strong relationships with interior designer clients in cities like New York, L.A. and Miami. For a few years, things went according to plan. As his studio grew, 6070% of sales came from the U.S. market. Then in 2025, all of that changed. “We had a healthy-looking pipeline, but when the tariffs came in, we just saw more and more projects disappear, says Rigby. Since October 14, upholstered furniture imported to the U.S.such as sofas and armchairshas been subject to a 25% tariff, which is due to rise to 30% on January 1, 2026. In reality, trade deals with specific countries affect this final number. For instance, tariffs on all imports from EU countries are capped at 15%; for the U.K., its 10%; for Brazil, its 50%. Different elements of a furniture item can even be subject to varying tariffs based on their country of origin. These changes and uncertainties have rattled the furniture world, including foreign furniture makers with significant U.S. markets like Rigby and U.S.-based interior designers sourcing global furniture. Even domestic furniture brands, who often rely on international materials, are taking a hit. Delaware-headquartered American Signature, parent company of furnishings retailers American Signature Furniture and Value City, filed for bankruptcy in November, citing the economic impacts of tariffs. The great reshoring USITC data shows that most furniture imported to the U.S. comes from China and Vietnam, largely representing the mass of the market with quick-shipped, budget pieces. For higher-end, design-forward interiors projects, the picture is a little different, with many pieces coming from heritage and prestige European furniture brands. Europe offers a level of uniqueness and legacy techniques that are hard to replicate, says New York-based interior designer Clive Lonstein, who sources roughly 20% of the furniture used in his studios projects internationally. These pieces will remain important to his practice, he says, as they add depth and individuality to each project. Nevertheless, in the wake of tariffs, he has also begun looking to domestic vendors and artisans. [There is] incredible design talent and craftsmanship here in the States, he says. [Photo: William Jess Laird/courtesy Clive Lonstein] Recentering the focus on American production is a driving vision of the U.S. tariffs, and many of the large, well-known furniture companiesboth domestic and internationalare already making moves in that direction. Swedish brand Ikea, which currently manufactures about 15% of products that it sells in the U.S. domestically, has said it would increase U.S. production. In the meantime, it concedes, tariffs will result in price adjustmentsmade more urgent by its recently reported plunge in profits. American brand RH, meanwhile, which imports most of its products, has reportedly started moving more manufacturing to its existing U.S. operations in North Carolina, a national and historic hub of furniture making. [Photo: William Jess Laird/courtesy Clive Lonstein] Reshoring comes with its own challenges, however: U.S. labor is often more expensive, it can be harder to find enough skilled workers, the infrastructure is not yet there to match production levels achieved internationally, and many materials still need to be imported. Even with the tariffs, it might be cheaper for consumers and clients to buy imported furniture. Smaller brand, bigger problems Although many large brands are waiting to see how things play out, smaller-scale furniture makers are already feeling the impact. [Photo: Austin Leis/courtesy Soft Witness] Soft Witness, a furniture and interior design studio based between New York and Florence, Italy, has earned a reputation for its craft-focused, architecturally informed aesthetic. Its furniture pieces are manufactured in Italy and often shipped over to the U.S. To maintain sales and commissions at competitive pricing, founder Whitney Krieger has been taking the hit financiallypaying tariffs and not passing that cost on to her customers. For her, this means potentially forgoing profits, or even taking a loss. [Photo: Neige Thebault/courtesy Soft Witness] While the impact has prompted Krieger to consider producing her works in the U.S., where 90% of her sales are, she has yet to be convinced this will move the needle much, as it doubles a lot of work. Ultimately, she feels committed to collaborating with the artisans in Italy she has built a relationship with. Larger furniture brands, however, often have the funds or mechanisms to absorb the subsequent costs of tariffs or manufacturing relocation, without necessarily passing on the bulk of that cost to consumers. [Photo: Erik Whlström/courtesy Hem] Hem, a popular, young Swedish furniture brandappealing for its contemporary, playful take on Scandinavian minimalismmanufactures its products in Europe, but has focused sales on the U.S. market from the outset. As such, it established an incorporated limited company in the U.S. [Photo: Kasia Bobula/courtesy Hem] This has significantly lessened the impact of the current tariffs, as instead of exporting to clients at retail price, Hem exports to its own entity at product cost, resulting in lower tariff bills that the brand largely absorbs. Weve raised prices a little bit, but not a lotabout 5%, says Petrus Palmér, Hems founder. The most significant impact, he says, has been the noise and insecurity. Its confusing enough for business owners, he says, but worse for consumers. I understand completely if they stop buying. Trickle down effects The business outcomes of furniture producers and the interior designers who buy their products is deeply intertwined. For interior designers relying on furniture imports, including from Europe, the day-to-day reality of their business has become much more complex, even while the vision and ambitions remain the same. [Photo: Nicole Franzen/courtesy Vellum Studio] Los Angeles and New York-based Vellum Studio, for instance, does not intend on abandoning foreign products in its high-end residential interior projects. International pieces are part of our design, says founder Ronit Lee. We do not believe in forgoing these as each piece is a lifelong investment [for the client]. [Photo: Nicole Franzen/courtesy Vellum Studio] Prices for certain purchases from abroad have increased, but Lee is transparent with her clients about the changing costs and importing challenges. If possible, she prioritizes furniture that has already been imported to the U.S. by big brands or vintage furniture dealers, and is now being sold domestically. But this is a now dwindling supply. [Photo: Yoshihiro Makino/courtesy 22RE] For L.A. architecture and design studio 22RE, most of the furniture it specifies for projects is vintagean approach that draws on a fundamentally global narrative. So much of 20th-century designespecially modernismcame from global conversation and cross-cultural making, says founder Dean Levin. European design in particular, he says, remains a huge part of the language of modern interiorsnot just visually, but culturally. The tariffs have made sourcing rare international finds harder and often not financially realistic, he says. They threaten that global exchange and make some of the most defining pieces of design history less accessible. [Photo: Yoshihiro Makino/courtesy 22RE]
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E-Commerce
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