Stormzy wore the Beluga 2.0 early, and adidas’s VP called them 100% real

Stormzy performed at the 2017 MTV EMAs at the SSE Arena, Wembley, on 12 Nov 2017, in a Yeezy Boost 350 V2 nobody could buy yet. It was the Beluga 2.0, and adidas had it down for 25 Nov.

Leaker account Yeezy Mafia posted a screenshot from the set and said they were fakes. Stormzy hit back with photos of the box, and the label in his picture reads AH2203. Then adidas settled it. Jon Wexler, its VP of influencer and entertainment marketing, tweeted that the shoes were “100% real”. Complex pointed out Stormzy was an adidas endorser, so an early pair wasn’t far-fetched.

It’s a small fight, but it shows where the Beluga stood by late 2017. A grey 350 V2 on a grime artist’s feet was worth a leaker’s call-out and a vice president’s reply.

September 2016: the first 350 V2 was a Beluga

The 2.0 wasn’t the first Beluga. The very first 350 V2 dropped on 24 Sep 2016 in Steel Grey, Beluga and Solar Red, after a preview at the Yeezy Season 3 show in February. Hypebeast counted three Primeknit yarns, an internal Three Stripes detail, a reinforced toe box and a semi-transparent TPU outsole over Boost. SPLY-350 was stamped across an orange stripe, the one detail the sequel would change.

The 2.0 lost the orange band

The 2.0 kept the grey knit and dropped the band. SPLY-350 runs down the side in orange-red lettering instead, as adidas’s own images show. Hypebeast reported it’d be the first model released in larger quantities, so the pair Stormzy had early was one more people would actually get.

Reflective in 2021, Carbon after the split

adidas brought the original back on 18 Dec 2021 as the Beluga Reflective, and this time there’s 3M in the knit and a full family size run. The Carbon Beluga’s first sighting was in 2022, as the “Dark Beluga”: darker brown and grey knit, orange flecks, the orange SPLY-350 stripe kept.

It didn’t release until 31 May 2023, in adidas’s first sale of leftover Yeezy stock after the split. By then nobody needed a VP to vouch for anything. adidas was selling Yeezys without Ye.