- Adidas began selling its stockpile of Yeezys on May 31.
- Customers took to social media to voice their displeasure with the company's Confirmed app.
Some Yeezy fans eager to secure a pair of Yeezy Boost 350 "Pirate Black" sneakers were finally able to enter a one-hour draw for the shoes on the Adidas Confirmed app Thursday.
The sneakers were long rumored to release on May 31, but technical failures due to traffic on the Adidas Confirmed app Wednesday evening seemingly pushed the drop to this morning.
Of the many silhouettes included in the restock, Yeezy Foam Runners, Yeezy Slides, and the "Pirate Black" 350 were the most coveted. Sneakers restocked on the Confirmed app via an online raffle or first-come first serve basis.
This marks the first time consumers can buy Yeezy items at retail since October when Adidas severed ties with Kanye West after a series of anti-Semitic rants by the rapper and designer, now known as Ye.
Customers looking to get their hands on multiple pairs of Yeezys on Wednesday were frequently met with internet connection or server error messages at checkout. Some adiClub loyalty members had to re-enter shipping information into the app to purchase a shoe. Others were inexplicably logged out. Those able to enter for pairs regularly waited hours for the results of a raffle.
While some Yeezy fans succeeded in entering the draw for the "Pirate Black" this morning, many of the same problems remained. Sneakerheads on social media complained about not being able to log in and only being able to purchase small sizes when the draw opened. App crashes also continued.
—6 i x a m (@6ixammusic) June 1, 2023
—YEEZY GOD (@gunnertierno) June 1, 2023
—Vic ✌ (@3nyioha) June 1, 2023
App malfunctions are common for hype releases in sneaker culture. Adidas and Nike know this better than most. It's difficult to support large spikes in traffic on a site or mobile app, while also contending with resellers and bots — automated software used by resellers to speed up the online checkout process.
Last November, Nike released the Air Jordan 1 "Lost and Found" in the classic Chicago colorway. Many sneakerheads could not enter a draw on the Nike SNKRS app because of app crashes or frozen screens. Others were met with error messages at checkout. Many compared the experience to buying Taylor Swift concert tickets on Ticketmaster the same week.
The "Lost and Found" restock on April 20 did not go much better.
Nike's SNKRS VP Lucy Rouse later said the chaotic restock was due to a "challenge with a third-party scaling issue, which basically prevented us from being able to handle the traffic for that particular launch," according to Complex.