My Journey Through Adidas x Yeezy History: Finding Rare Pieces on CNFans
I still remember the first time I saw someone wearing Yeezy Boost 750s in person. It was 2015, and I was convinced they were the ugliest shoes I'd ever seen. Fast forward to today, and I've spent the last three months diving deep into the Adidas x Yeezy archives on CNFans, trying to understand what I missed back then. This isn't just about shoes anymore—it's about documenting a cultural moment before it completely fades away.
The Early Days: When I Didn't Get It
Honestly? I thought Kanye was out of his mind when the Yeezy Season 1 dropped. The earth tones, the oversized silhouettes, the price tags that made my eyes water. I was still wearing my Ultraboosts and feeling pretty good about myself. But there was something happening that I couldn't ignore—people were obsessed. Not just hypebeasts, but actual fashion people, designers, artists I respected.
Now, scrolling through CNFans spreadsheets late at night, I find myself stopping at those early season pieces. The 950 Boots that everyone mocked. The 350 Turtle Doves that started everything. There's a seller on the spreadsheet who has Season 2 military boots listed, and I've had the tab open for two weeks. I keep asking myself: am I buying into nostalgia, or do I finally understand what Kanye was trying to say?
The Boost Era: My Personal Awakening
The Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Bred changed everything for me. It was 2017, I took an L on the official release, and for the first time, I understood the frustration everyone had been talking about. That's when I started looking at alternatives, which eventually led me to CNFans months ago.
What strikes me now, looking through the spreadsheet listings, is how many colorways there actually were. Beluga, Zebra, Blue Tint, Sesame—each one felt like an event. I've been comparing different sellers' batches of the Zebras, reading QC photos like they're archaeological evidence. The thing is, these weren't just shoes. They were Kanye's way of democratizing design, even if the retail releases never quite lived up to that promise.
Finding the Forgotten Colorways
There are Yeezy colorways most people have completely forgotten about. The Semi Frozen Yellow. The Sesame. The Salt Wave Runner 700s. I found a seller on CNFans who specializes in these 'unpopular' releases, and their inventory reads like a time capsule. These were the shoes that sat on shelves, that went to outlets, that people actually wore instead of collecting.
I ordered a pair of the Sesame 350s last month. When they arrived and I held them, I felt something unexpected—relief. Relief that not everything has to be hype. That some of the best designs were the ones people slept on. The Sesames are perfect because nobody cares about them anymore, which means I can actually wear them without feeling like I'm making a statement.
The 700 Wave Runner: My Biggest Regret
I need to confess something: I actively made fun of the Wave Runner 700s when they dropped. Called them dad shoes. Said Kanye had lost his touch. I was so wrong it physically hurts to think about.
The Wave Runners were ahead of their time, predicting the entire chunky sneaker trend that dominated 2018-2020. Now they're one of the most sought-after silhouettes on CNFans, and I've been hunting for a good batch for weeks. I've learned to read the details—the 3M placement, the midsole shape, the suede texture. It's become a weird hobby, this quality control obsession.
What I love about finding these on CNFans is that I can actually afford to own a piece of that history. The retail prices were already insane, and the resale market is completely disconnected from reality. But here, in these spreadsheets, there's a strange democracy. Anyone willing to do the research can own a piece of sneaker history.
The 500 and 700 V2: The Misunderstood Middle Children
Nobody talks about the Yeezy 500s anymore, and that makes me sad. The Utility Black, the Blush, the Super Moon Yellow—these were Kanye experimenting with retro silhouettes and premium materials. I found a seller on CNFans with deadstock colorways I'd completely forgotten existed.
The 700 V2 series is even more overlooked. The Static, the Hospital Blue, the Vanta. These shoes represented Kanye refining his vision, making it more wearable, more versatile. I bought the Vanta colorway last week, and when I wear them, I feel like I'm wearing a secret. Nobody recognizes them. Nobody cares. And that's exactly why I love them now.
The Basketball Attempt That Never Was
The Yeezy Quantum Basketball shoes are fascinating to me because they represent pure ambition. Kanye wanted to make performance basketball shoes, to compete with Jordan Brand on their own turf. The collaboration ended before that dream fully materialized, but the Quantums remain as evidence of what could have been.
I found several Quantum colorways on CNFans—the Barium, the Teal Blue, the Frozen Blue. They're chunky, futuristic, completely impractical for my life. I bought the Barium anyway. Sometimes you buy shoes not for what they are, but for what they represent: the audacity to try something different.
The Foam Runner: When I Finally Admitted Defeat
I swore I would never wear Foam Runners. They looked like Crocs had a baby with an alien spaceship. But then I saw them everywhere last summer—on influencers, on dads at the grocery store, on teenagers at the skate park. The cultural penetration was undeniable.
CNFans has dozens of Foam Runner listings in every colorway imaginable. I spent hours comparing the Ararat, the MXT Moon Grey, the Ochre. I read reviews. I looked at QC photos until my eyes crossed. And then, at 2 AM on a Tuesday, I ordered the Sand colorway.
They arrived last week. I wore them to walk my dog. They're the most comfortable things I've ever put on my feet, and I hate that I love them. This is what Kanye does—he makes you question your own taste until you're not sure what you actually like anymore.
The End of an Era: What the Spreadsheets Preserve
The Adidas x Yeezy collaboration ended in 2022, and with it, a specific moment in fashion history closed. What remains are these spreadsheets, these sellers, these communities of people trying to access designs that briefly changed how we think about footwear and fashion.
Scrolling through CNFans late at night has become my way of processing what this collaboration meant. Each listing is a memory, a cultural moment, a design decision that influenced countless other brands. The Red Octobers that started it all at Nike. The Turtle Doves that proved the concept. The Zebras that became iconic. The Foam Runners that pushed boundaries until they broke.
I'm not trying to collect everything—I can't afford that, and honestly, I don't want to. But I am trying to understand. To own a few pieces that speak to me personally. To participate in this strange archive that exists in spreadsheets and WhatsApp conversations and QC photo albums.
What I've Learned From This Obsession
This journey through Yeezy history on CNFans has taught me more about myself than I expected. I've learned that my taste is more malleable than I thought. That hype and quality aren't the same thing. That sometimes the best designs are the ones people ignore.
I've also learned that these spreadsheets are more than shopping tools—they're historical records. They document what was made, what was popular, what endured. Years from now, when people want to understand this era of sneaker culture, they'll look at archives like CNFans and see what people actually wanted to own.
My collection is small but intentional now: the Sesame 350s for everyday wear, the Vanta 700 V2s for when I want to feel like myself, the Foam Runners for when I've given up on caring what anyone thinks. Each pair tells a story about a specific moment in the Adidas x Yeezy timeline, and together, they tell my story of finally understanding what I was looking at all along.