The Yeezy 500 went from nameless sample to infant sizes in under seven years

The Yeezy 500 didn’t have a name or a release date when it started turning up around Ye in 2017. It first appeared on Ibn Jasper’s Instagram in May. Then it was on Ye, and on Kim Kardashian, and by October Complex had a nickname for it: the Desert Rat 500.

It didn’t use Boost. Complex traced its sole to an adidas basketball shoe, the KB8 3. In 2017 that made it the odd one out in a line built on Boost. It outlasted the partnership too: adidas was still putting out new 500 colourways in 2024, well over a year after the deal ended.

Yeezy Supply sold it with Season 6 first

The first pairs went out on Yeezy Supply in December 2017, in Super Moon Yellow, bundled with Yeezy Season 6. Then came Blush, the pair Kim’s Season 6 “clones” wore. Hypebeast’s close-up in February 2018 showed what it’s made of: a suede, leather and mesh upper over an adiPRENE sole.

All-Star weekend 2018: the 500 Blush

By the time it dropped, the Desert Rat name was gone. The Yeezy 500 Blush opened for reservations on adidas Confirmed on 14 Feb 2018. It released at adidas’s 747 Warehouse St event in Los Angeles during All-Star weekend, then on Yeezy Supply on 16 Feb. It wasn’t gone long: Blush was back in April.

Stone Salt, new in 2024

adidas ended the partnership in October 2022 and spent the following years selling the Yeezy stock it still had. Stone Salt was a colourway that hadn’t come out before. It dropped on 11 Mar 2024 through adidas Confirmed, next to a 350 V2 Flax restock.

It’s tonal grey all over: a mesh base, suede overlays, a synthetic mudguard and an adiPRENE+ sole in the same grey. adidas released it in adult, kids’ and infant sizes the same day, and the infants’ pair is the same shoe, cut down.

In 2017 nobody could put a name to the shoe on Ye’s feet. By March 2024 adidas was making it in a size for babies.