The History of Yeezys
Everyone has heard of them. They are the iconic sneaker that rocks the world every time new lines drop. What am I talking about? Yeezys of course! Yeezys are famous for being fashionable, comfortable, and notoriously hard to get your hands on, especially the original lineups. Their rich history begins with Kanye West and his vision of a new style of sneakers. To fund his idea, he partnered with Nike and released the brand new high top Nike Air Yeezys in April of 2009. They retailed for $215 dollars each and were the first Nike sneakers to be designed for non-athletes. They came in Zen Grey, Net Tan, and Blink colorways. Their rollout was a huge success and was the first of many successful launches for Kanye.
A few years later, in 2012, Nike and Kanye released the Nike Air Yeezy II at $250 dollars a pair. Especially unique, were the ridges on the back of every sneaker as well as the glow-in-the-dark fins. To nobody’s surprise, they sold out in minutes with the most highly sought after colorway, Red October, being resold for over $10,000 dollars! Sadly for Nike, this would be the last pair of Yeezys Kanye would develop with them. Their partnership ended because Nike wouldn’t let Kanye take royalties from each sneaker sale, essentially robbing Kanye of the profit associated with the Yeezys’ success. Rumors began circulating that Kanye was switching sides to Nike's biggest competitor, Adidas.
These rumors proved to be true when Kayne publicly confirmed his $10 million dollar deal with Adidas in early December of 2013. In addition to full control over the design of the Yeezy sneakers, Adidas gave Kanye the royalties that Nike would not. The first set of sneakers, released in early 2015, under the new partnership, was the Adidas Yeezy Boost 750 lineup. Retailing at $350 dollars a pair the new shoes were worth every penny. Kanye claims his inspiration for the suede set of stylish sneakers came from Marty McFly as well as UGGs. Again, these sold out instantly, but the most famous of his creations was still to come.
The Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 shook the sneaker enthusiast community to the core when they came out over the second half of 2015. These kicks would go on to win the title “Shoe of the Year” at the Footwear News Annual Achievement Awards. Their drop was so highly anticipated that people could be seen lining up to buy them a whole day before the drop. It wasn’t uncommon for customers to be seen camping out in line with folding chairs, sleeping bags, and even tents.
Yeezy 350 Boost
Over the next few years Kanye would release the Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2 line up as well as many more colorways of the original 350. Yeezys continued to fly off the shelves and Kanye began to see the downside to designing such desirable sneakers: not everyone who wanted a pair could buy one, and some people were even getting injured while waiting for raffles. In response, in 2018, Kanye declared that Yeezys should be available to everyone who wants them, not just the people with sneaker bots, which buy the shoes instantly upon release. Thus, Kanye ordered larger drops to occur more frequently, and of course there would be more colorways, per his creative style.
Nowadays, anyone who wants a pair of Yeezys can buy them at retail price, and lines outside the doors of stores are no more. Yeezys continue to be the height of fashionable sneakers and Kanye has expanded his lineup to Yeezy 380s, 500s, and more. Yeezys will go down in history as one of the most important shoe brands in history, and Kanye, its creator, will go with it as one of the greatest fashion designers ever.