Now that Adidas finally gave us a re-release of the OG Yeezy Boost 350 V2 ‘Beluga’ colorway, we decided to look further into the past of the Adidas & Yeezy collection. Which is, in this case, the Yeezy Boost 350 V1 line-up.
What?! There are V1 colorways of my beloved 350 silhouette?! Yes indeed. Four colorways to be exact. The first one named ‘Turtledove’, was released all the way back in 2015. Coincidentally, that was right around the time when we started our page. We still have a video up of our pick-up here.
Anyways, after the Turtledove drop, Adidas came through with one of the hottest colorways to date, which was the ‘Pirate Black’. These were released in August of 2015. The hype for these was huge. Some might say, this colorway put the Yeezy Boost 350 silhouette on the map for the general public, since not only sneakerheads were loving this one. Weirdly enough, this is also the only colorway out of all four that Adidas decided to restock. This restock took place on the 19th of February and was (sadly) just as limited as the first release.
The third colorway that dropped was the ‘Moonrock’. This greenish color was truly one of a kind and was yet to be seen on other pairs of sneakers. The Moonrocks dropped on the 14th of November and saw a wider release compared to the previous colors. The stock seemed to be higher and also more retailers received pairs of these.
As the last of the four 350 V1 colors, Kanye West decided to match the Sand palette of his Yeezy Season clothing to his sneakers and dropped the ‘Oxford Tan’ color. Quite similar looking to the Moonrocks, the Oxford Tans also sported a color scheme that was yet to be seen on other sneakers. However, did you know that there was supposed to be a fifth colorway?
An all-white colorway was supposed to drop, but sadly did not make the cut. Some people did manage to get their hands on samples, such as @richteamshoenobi on Instagram. How he was able to get his hands on these remains a mystery to this day. However, the cancellation of the all-white color paired with the fact that no other V1 color has dropped ever since has left Kanye’s audience stranded. Why did this happen?
Quality issues
One reason for the move from the 350 V1 colorway, could be the quality issues the pairs had. Compared to the V2’s, the first version was nowhere near as durable as the second iteration. Glue stains ripped uppers and soles with wear could be some of the contributing factors.
Comfort
A second reason could be the fact that the 350 V1 silhouette was not comfortable when worn for longer periods of time. The sneakers lacked ankle support and did not keep your feet firm. Comparing that to customer reviews of the 350 V2’s, we get told that the V2’s are one of the most comfortable shoes they own.
Mass production issues
Kanye has said it multiple times; he wants everyone to be able to own a pair of Yeezy’s. The difference in the number of stock retailers get for 350 V1’s vs. V2’s is huge. In theory, everyone should be able to grab a pair of Yeezy Boost 350 V2’s at retail price. For the V1, this was nowhere near the case. This is also why the V1’s had way higher post-release resell prices. Perhaps, the first version was not as easily scalable to mass-production, which ultimately led to a new design.
We personally think the first iteration of the Yeezy 350 is aesthetically more pleasing. It has a more minimalist design and overall cleaner looks. Hopefully, we will see another drop of this silhouette in the near future. Though, for now, we will keep on speculating on where Kanye will take the 350 silhouette next.
Written by Danny Beans