The shoes are back. And the rush for them ensues. Kanye West is laughing to the bank

Screen grabs of the Adidas Confirmed app on the morning of the re-release of Yeezy X Adidas

By Awang Sulung

They’re back! Yeezys, at first destined to die, has come back. But the person to stay alive with the last laugh has to be Kanye West. According to news reports, the man who created Yeezys supposedly made US$25 million (or about S$33.7 million) on the first day of the re-launch of Yeezy sneakers—those that Adidas were stuck with and unable to dump after they broke off their business deal with the rapper. And what a “great” day it was—for Mr West and Adidas, and even better for fans. You and I would think that after the long-drawn and very public fallout of Mr West’s deplorable behaviour, online and off, on social media and in private (but exposed), the craze for the shoes that he first launched with the German sports brand in 2013 (after failed talks with Nike, Mr West’s prior collaborator) would have waned, or cooled like a twenty-minute old goreng pisang.

But no, Yeezys are as hot as ever. I don’t own a single pair and have never tried to buy any, but out of curiosity, I decided to experience for my self what buying—or attempting to purchase—a pair of Yeezy, the very last ones, would be like. Sadly, I was not able to walk into any Adidas store to see, try, and buy. Instead, the sale of the Yeezys are only available online (from 1 June onwards), and not on the Adidas website, but via a dedicated app—Adidas Confirmed—that you have to download. That’s the only way even to just have a glimpse of the side-view images of those shoes. Adidas assumed you already know your Yeezys, so no 360° view of the sneakers or slides that you may like was available. Click on what you like before it’s to late. No time wasted on deliberating.

Screen shot of the page on the Adidas website that told visitors to download the ‘Confirm’ app to shop for Yeezys

Like shoppers in other parts of the world, Singaporeans approached the (re)release of Yeezys with new-broom enthusiasm. But ‘Confirmed’ does not mean you are assured a pair of the kicks. And there isn’t what Hossan Leong is prone to utter, “double confirm”. I have to say that I was not so determined that I hit the sale at the stroke of midnight. By the time, I downloaded the app, it was past noon. And by then, “Final Call” or “Sold Out” was indicated beneath many of the shoes available. There is no indication of how many styles were for grab at a time or if more will be put out. In fact, the shoes are not available for immediate sale. I had to click on “Enter Drop” when a shoe is marked “Drop Started”. That essentially meant I had the chance to “enter the queue”. But when the shoe is tagged “Final Call”, I had to “Enter Draw”. Frankly, it was all very confusing. And, pening (dizzying).

The prices are not low. The Boost 700 was going for S$410 and the Boost 350 V2 was asking for a far-from-humble S$380. For such pricing, it is strange that Adidas would not make the shopping experience pleasant and as straight-forward as possible. (And you could not buy without registering or surrendering all information about you.) Or was the draw, levelling the playing field for all fans (the mere curious lumped together)? What happened to first come, first serve? Or, is that just too old-fashioned, too easy? Adidas Confirm is a fairly easy to navigate app, full of ads to connect you to other of the brand’s desirable collabs, but when it came to the sale of the Yeezys, it was set up to lure the determined. I, alas, was not so serious or single-minded. The craze will past. No need to get all worked up.

Collage (top): Just So