DISCLAIMER: When you click links and buy things we often get a 1% cut, so it really doesn’t make sense for us to not hype up every single release, like you see at every other site. Money could be made off the Yeezy hype… even for us. Unfortunately, that’s the problem, not the solution… So yes, economically we are shooting ourself in the foot. No we don’t care. Cop These Kicks is run by passionate sneaker hobbyists who have real jobs, a solid retirement already set and don’t need the money, so, screw it… here we go.

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OK, I know, a lot of words have been directed toward Kanye West and Adidas during Talk Kicks. It’s no secret that we think they’re generally ugly, over hyped and over priced. Still an All Black 750 seems like the best colorway on the best silhouette yet for Adidas’s juggernaut line.

Do they look good? Yes.
Will they resell way beyond their value? Yes.
So why would we skip this Yeezy release?

There’s still a bitter taste in the sneaker community over Kanye’s “As many Yeezys as LeBrons” nonsense. It’s not the lie that is at the heart of the issue. Adidas is purposely keeping production numbers abysmally low to preserve the brand value and bolster hype. This is not only a legitimate business strategy, but in our opinion a good idea. No one wants another over produced weekly released disaster, like LeBron’s. No one wants to see their coveted kicks drop in value.

So why would we skip this Yeezy release?

The distribution of the Yeezy stock is really the most disappointing part of every Yeezy release. An obnoxiously long stock list with hundreds of stores getting less than a single full run of Yeezys smattered across select major cities around the globe. Adidas lets these retailers distribute their stock how they see fit. This is an excellent marketing opportunity for these stores to raise brand awareness and perhaps lure new customers. Most of these stores have held relatively quiet in store raffles. Now we won’t pretend that the raffles are fair, most likely these shoes will see their way into select hands for favors or just pure profit. We have come to expect that in the sneaker community, particularly after photographic evidence of Foot Locker and Shoe Palace came to light on a few occasions. Rigged raffles and backdoor releases are par for the course.

So why would we skip this Yeezy release?

One word. Dignity. Lets keep this in perspective. Adidas knows if they produce just a few Yeezys at a ridiculously high price they will sell out instantly. The suits in Berlin are also very aware that if the majority of their Yeezys make it into resellers hands the demand will just continue to grow. All in all it’s a win for Adidas, and a boon for small sneaker boutiques. The only people who lose are the sneakerheads.

Fixed raffles, many of which involve a grey area version of spam requiring entrants to “tag friends” flood twitter and instagram every Yeezy release. Botched stock lists have us calling stores that Adidas claims will receive stock only to hear that they “won’t have any”. Why? Did Adidas not send them? Did you raffle them off? Are they all out the back door? Tiny sites using shopify and other insecure online merchant platforms get backdoored hours if not days before by a small group of resellers leaving them either too embarrassed or apathetic to admit it or change anything. You can spend a full day driving around to enter raffles and be up all night waiting for sites to release (or never release) their pairs only to find out you never had a chance to begin with.

So why would we skip this Yeezy release?

Because only a fool would put in 8-16 hours of effort just for a slim chance to give a 17 billion dollar company their hard earned $350 so that Kanye can buy another car.