Why has Adidas Yeezy from Kanye West become so easy to buy now?

When a massive reissue of Kanye West's Yeezy shoes – the Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2 in triple white – was dropped this week, fans noticed something different: while the shoes were selling in minutes,.

Footwear fans said the same on social media, where rather than the usual complaints about selling shoes before they could buy them, customers marveled at being able to pick up pairs as easily.

Is the sudden availability of sneakers related to the fact that 2018 was the most controversial year in the West's career? Between his repeated expressions of support for President Donald Trump, his remark that slavery was a choice for African-Americans, his beef with various celebrities for allegedly disrespecting his wife, and plans to return to his hometown of Chicago, he has just hit the headlines lately.

All this press may have contributed to the hype of the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 reissue – Thursday, West and the sneakers have outpaced Twitter's list of trends for several hours. But the ease with which fans and Standards, by the way, can now buy a pair of Yeezys does not have much to do with West's many scandals and everything about Adidas' marketing strategy.

This fall marks Adidas' most important Yeezys outing, with one million shoes available. When Adidas Yeezy made its debut in 2015, the company released it in very limited quantities, and the scarcity of the product helped to give the shoes a boost. But research shows that it is bad for companies to use product scarcity as a long-term strategy. Rather than promoting brand loyalty, the stratagem can actually make customers go astray.

Adidas' decision to free enough Yeezys to allow fans to buy multiple pairs does not necessarily mean that the shoes have lost their appeal or that the many scandals of the West have hurt the brand. He says Adidas decided it was the right time to give customers what they wanted.

Yeezys became a cult object based on how they were sold, stylized and marketed

Kanye West would not hesitate to tell anyone that he is one of the most influential artists of our time. But the popularity of Yeezys is not related to his only celebrity and his influence. Shoe engineering – and popularity with celebrities such as Jay-Z and Macklemore – have made Yeezys a must-have item since the launch of the Nike Air Yeezys in 2009.

Six years later, when Adidas released its first pair, the Yeezy Boost 750 in light brown, after West left Nike for a dispute, only 9,000 pairs of shoes were available and customers could only buy them. by making a reservation with the brand. mobile app. They sold in 10 minutes.

By the end of February, more Yeezys were being distributed by selected retailers. But the buzz that Adidas created by initially launching the sneakers in an extremely limited number meant that customers were lined up, despite their price of $ 350.

Adidas has also boosted demand by releasing shoes in unique colors. In June 2016, a new version of the Yeezy Boost 750 debuted in gray with a shiny rubber outsole in the dark. He marked Yeezy's first collaboration since West with Nike, which ended in 2014.

Since the collaboration between West and Adidas, more than half a dozen Yeezys have been launched, including Yeezy Boost 350, Yeezy 950 and Yeezy 350 Cleat, designed for footballers. The brand also played on the public's love for nostalgia, launching the Yeezy Powerphase in 2017. These sneakers are a return to a 1980s Adidas shoe style.

The same year they released the Yeezy Boost 700 running shoe at the Yeezy Season 5 fashion show. With this shoe, Adidas once again turned to the shortage of products to attract buzz, only initially making it available only in Yeezy Supply's online store. And a blush version of the Yeezy 500, which West showed at the NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles in February, was initially only available by online draw on some websites.

Yeezys was not supposed to be sold in limited quantities in the long run

The mass output of the Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2 could indicate that the brand is changing gear, but there is evidence that West and Adidas initially planned to make these shoes available to a small audience before opening the availability to everyone.

"In the end, everyone who wants to get Yeezys will get Yeezys," said West in 2015. "Adidas promised me that there are so many kids who wanted me to do it." they can not have them, and I have spoken to the leaders of Adidas and they say we can do them. "

His words may not have seemed sincere since the shoes continued to sell in a few minutes thereafter. But the latest version suggests that the day has finally come for anyone who wants a pair of Yeezys (and has money, the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 costs $ 220) to score. More than a day after the release of the resale online, the shoes had not been sold.

This is good news for the average customer, but it is probably bad news for resellers, who have relied on buying hard-to-buy shoes and have sold them three times as much or more. This trend has frustrated customers in the past, as only an elite consumer group can afford to spend $ 1,000 on sneakers. Making this article out of reach of the masses inculcates more resentment to the brand than brand loyalty, and with this reissue, Adidas has made it clear that it has a wider audience.

GQ reports that, according to the official press release of the Yeezy Boost 350 V2, "a Yeezy sneaker will be released in large quantities, which will give an unprecedented number of fans from around the world direct access to the retail price." Limited versions that have been the mystique of the brand and enriched its dealers, Adidas finally offers fans (more) equal access to the shoe. In the end, this could do as much for Yeezy's cult status as originally offering the sneaker to an elite that few of them had.