Today marks the general release of the Yeezy Boost 350 v2 Sesame. Although it’s been a busy autumn for the 350 silhouettes, with both the Cream White and Zebra colorways restocking within the last 3 months, the Yeezy Boost 350 v2 Sesame is the first new 350 to hit the market since the Butters dropped last June. Given its auspicious release date (Black Friday), and the historical popularity of 350s in general, one would expect anticipation to be high.
However, if the Yeezy Boost 350 v2 Sesame intends to dominate the holiday market, it is going to face some stiff headwinds. As we’ve documented in previous posts, the Yeezy brand has seen a significant diminution in the 5 months since the 350 Butter released. Probably the most important factor behind this decline is the seemingly endless number of restocks, which have severely depressed Yeezy resale prices across the board. Another factor is Kanye’s personal brand, which most likely took a hit following his politically polarizing antics this past summer. Finally, there is the growing sense that the 350 colorway has simply exhausted its hype; with so many Yeezys presently on the market – more than a dozen v2 350s alone – it is hard for a new release to break out and generate excitement.
We took a look at the early sales numbers to see how the Yeezy Boost 350 v2 Sesame is performing. Per usual, we looked at the pre-release price and sales volume data and analyzed how that compares to the 350 Butter colorway before and after its own release back in June. The following chart shows average resale prices for the Sesame and Butter Yeezys 5 days before and 5 days after drop day:
As you can see, the Yeezy Boost 350 v2 Sesame started out at a significantly lower price point than the 350 Butter. 5 days before it released, the 350 Butter was reselling for nearly $375, while the Sesame was reselling for just $325 at that same point in time. In the days leading up to drop day, the Sesame has continued to underperform the Butter. At noon on drop day, the Sesame was selling for just under $275 a pair – around $30 dollars less than the release-day Butter price. Should this trend continue, we still expect the Sesame to still be reselling for a positive price premium a week from now; while it is certainly underperforming the 350 Butter, the trend line is such that it will likely continue earning a near-term profit for resellers. That said, this is easily the lowest release-day price point of any 350 silhouette we’ve seen, and further confirms the thesis that 350 hype is waning.
The sales volume numbers tell a similar story. Here, the comparison between the Sesame and Butter is somewhat complicated by the fact that the Sesame happened to release on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, when sales are expected to be strongest across the board. Thus, to make an apples-to-apples comparison, we compared the relative market share of the Sesame and Butter: that is, how much of the total sneaker market each sneaker accounted for, before and after they released.
The numbers here are striking. Market share for the Yeezy Boost 350 v2 Sesame has lagged far, far behind that of the Butter. A day before it released, Butter sales accounted for a full 17% of the secondary sneaker market; by contrast, sales of the Sesame accounted for just 5% of the market on the eve of its release. On release day itself, Butter market share approached 50% of the StockX sneaker market, which means that on that day, nearly 1 out of every 2 sneaker dollars was spent on the Butters. As the Sesame, release-day market share remains below 10%. In other words, on their respective release days, Butter market share exceeded Sesame market share by an astounding 5 to 1.
It is still too early to write an obituary for the Yeezy 350 – and too early still to pronounce the death of Yeezys as a brand. But the price and sales data for the 350 Sesame is as definitive as it is dire. As we’ve seen again and again over the past 5 months – from the 700 Mauve release to the Cream White and Zebra restocks – the Yeezy brand is at its nadir, and the trend line is pointed in the wrong direction.
