How to spot a fake Yeezy Boost 350

So like most people I have made many mistakes in my life and one of these such mistakes has happened quite recently. With all the hype around Kanye West’s Yeezy boost sneakers the prices that come with them on websites like eBay are very high. The first “Turtle Dove” Yeezy 350 Boost now sells on average for around £1000-£1200, from an original cost of just £150. Even the “Pirate Black” versions which were released just 3 months ago now resell for around £500-£700.

There’s clearly a trend you can see that the cost of these sneakers goes up, fast. I decided to take some savings and invest in 4 pairs, all bought from eBay in the hope I could make some return and money! Wary of fakes I did some research online, looking for how to spot fake yeezy boosts and found one or two websites.

So the orders arrived yesterday and I’m sorry to say they were all fakes, some of which were actually quite obvious and others were very good copies that you normally wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Here are the details to look for to spot a fake Yeezy Boost 350 to stop others making the same mistakes, although this example is for the Pirate black version, it applies to all Yeezy Boost 350’s (I am comparing to a pair I bought directly from a trusted official company).

I am also selling my own personal stock of Yeezy Boosts which you can find here, through eBay. Or alternatively you can sometimes find Yeezy Boost’s popping up on Farfetch (the company I work for)

Last updated 14/05/17

I now have other guides available on other Yeezy releases, get your legit checks below:

How to spot fake Yeezy boost 350 V2 Beluga

How to spot fake Yeezy Boost 350 V2  Black and Red

How to spot fake Yeezy Boost 350 V2  Zebra

The box – the boxes are generally different in size, an official box will be larger than a fake and also do not feature the logo and print on the top.

The label on the box – There’s two main tell’s on the label, firstly the black box with the figure in the top left, this should be well proportioned, on fakes it looks squashed. The second thing to look for is the character of the number 1; on a real box it should have a bar at the bottom of the 1, on fake ones this is missing.

The Laces – firstly the laces themselves are usually darker that the ones on a fake pair (certainly on the Pirate black version), but what you should look out for is the finishing around the top.

The ends of fake laces are white and look a bit messy/unfinished, whereas an official pair will be rendered off and hard.

The Inner Sole – this is a relatively easy spot, the fakes typically have (but not always) white writing on the surface and an official yeezy boost will be a dark grey/almost see-through material.

The inside – perhaps the most obvious part is underneath the inner sole, an official Yeezy boost will be made from the material around the upper part of the shoe, a fake will be white and look cheap.

Logo position on sole – perhaps a lesser know sign of a fake is that the adidas logo on the left shoe typically featured on the inside, whereas a real one will have it on the outside, after the word adidas.

The back – again this is lesser known but the back should feature two rows of stitching, once around the outside and again with a lighter grey thread inside. Also there should only be 6 red stitches on the square.

The Side – this is again quite obvious if you compare, a real yeezy boost will have a suede like material for the semi-circle, on the Pirate black version it’s almost green, not black.

Some fakes do have green material too (see below) but actually the finish is often too light and the logo prints are not the right shape or in the correct position

The embossing – it’s easy to see the fake as the “YZY” and logo are often much bigger than the real ones and to touch not as embossed into the material. A real pair will feel very engrained in the material and a fake will be light to touch.

The Pattern – on some fakes you can just tell, it looks wrong, but on this example you can see subtle differences (this one I have below was a very good fake). The lines should be distinct near the back and literally align with the red stitching, straight from the base of the shoe, diagonally. A fake is less defined.

The backs – this part is more subtle, there should be a light grey box stitched into the back. Sometimes this is missing or on better fakes it’s there but not correctly aligned, the red stitching should be centred.

The receipt – I’ve started to see this more and more on eBay; the seller claims they have a receipt (which is usually in the photos) which “proves” authenticity – this really is not the case. A few signs that it’s not real: paper is too thick and not a receipt quality paper (should be very thin), look at the time and date of the purchase, real purchases are usually made on the day of release (often early morning or lunchtime). There’s also a fake Footlocker receipt that people are using with the yeezy boosts, I got sent one but have seen the same receipt with exactly the same details, watch out for: Cashier: Seleno, Register: 002, Store: 25100

I hope that you’ve found this guide useful and have been able to carry out a legit check. Those looking to buy a real pair, it’s totally worth it (see my review of them here)