The recent news that Adidas Yeezy sneakers may soon be releasing in much larger quantities is great for anyone trying to get a pair of the coveted kicks. On the other hand, it’s terrible news for those in the sneaker reselling game. Ever since Kanye West and Adidas dropped their first sneaker in 2015, the Yeezy line has been the lifeblood for many resellers.
But now the days of making a profit of triple what you paid for a pair of Yeezys appear to be over. The latest Yeezy Boost 350 V2, in the “Butter” colorway, is hovering at only about $100 over its original retail price of $220 at most consignment shops like Stadium Goods and Flight Club. Whether it’s because the brand is producing more pairs or consumers are just less interested in Yeezys is unclear, but it seems that supply is now meeting demand for the shoes that were once the hottest thing in the sneaker world.
Now something that would have been unthinkable a year ago was spotted by Twitter user Joe Berg in New York: a customer returning a pair of Yeezys to Foot Locker.
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Of course, this is only one customer returning one pair of sneakers, but the fact that it’s a Yeezy, one of the most coveted shoes on Earth for the last three years, certainly says something about the state of the resale market. There will always be limited-edition sneakers that claim outlandish prices on the secondary market, but the decline in prices of West’s Adidas models seems to reflect a shifting trend across the entire resale industry — not just for Yeezys but for all sneaker models and brands.
Is this truly the start of the resale depression? Only more time will tell, but if West’s original promise that anybody who wants his sneakers will be able to get them is soon true, at least Yeezys will be up for grabs at a reasonable price for us all.
