This Saturday marks the official debut of the highly-anticipated ‘Blue Tint‘ edition of the adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2. Lately, Kanye and adidas have pursued an almost manic release schedule, dropping 5 separate Yeezys in less than 2 months. First, in early November, they released the Semi Frozen Yellow 350 V2. Then, one week later, we saw the monster release of the Beluga 2.0s. Since then, they also casually dropped the Yeezy Powerphase Calabasas in grey, as well as the Yeezy 500 ‘Desert Rat’.
Until it officially hits the market, it’s impossible to predict how any sneaker will perform on the marketplace. But here at StockX, we’ve been closely watching the tea-leaves for blue-tinted hints, trying to predict how its sales will stack up against Yeezys past and present.
The two most recent 350 releases represent two potential paths, and two very different outcomes. The Semi Frozen Yellow 350 V2 had a far more limited run, with far more limited sales; the week of their release, they accounted for roughly 9% of StockX sneaker activity – a modest sum, by Yeezy standards. By contrast, the Beluga 2.0 sales volume was dramatically higher, with an astounding 35% market share over the first 7 days of the release. On any given day, StockX will sell roughly 800 distinct sneaker models. Yet during that one week in late November, nearly 4 of every 10 pairs that changed hands was a Beluga 2.0.
So: is the Blue Tint headed the way of the Semi Frozen Yellow? Or will it follow in the oversized footsteps of the Beluga 2.0?
Two metrics, in particular, are worth considering. The first is pre-release Bid Volume: how many people are willing to offer cold hard cash, even before a sneaker officially hits the market? The chart below shows Total Daily Bid Volume for the Blue Tint, Beluga 2.0 and Semi Frozen Yellow Yeezys, as each approaches release day:
As you can see, the Blue Tint path tracks much closer to that of the Semi Frozen Yellow, with the Beluga 2.0 far outpacing its two rivals. Three days out from its release, the Beluga was receiving 10 times as many bids as the Blue Tints, and 20 times as many bids as the Semi Frozen Yellow, when measured at comparable points in their release cycle.
The second metric we consider is Search Volume: that is, how much are people searching for various sneakers on our platform. Here, the results are more favorable to the Blue Tint Yeezy:
Indeed, for nearly the entire pre-release period, the Blue Tint has out-performed both the Beluga and Semi Frozen Yellow. Four days prior to their respective releases, the Blue Tint was searched 1.7 times more than the Beluga 2.0 and 2.2 times more than the Semi Frozen Yellow. If consumers put as much energy into purchasing their shoes as they do browsing their product pages, the Blue Tint could be on track for an extraordinary release.
The year 2017 witnessed the birth of several mammoth Yeezy Boost 350 models. From the Zebra in February, to the Cream White in April, to the Beluga 2.0 this November, many of the Yeezys released this year quickly ascended to iconic status in the sneaker pantheon, while also becoming all-time best-sellers on the StockX marketplace. In the graphic below, we show how various Yeezy releases came to (quite literally) flood the national market; click through to see the highest selling model in each month of 2017
Will the continental 48 soon be tinted blue? Check back here next week to find out.
