Jeff Staple x Nike Dunk Low Pro SB 'Pigeon'
Colorway: Medium Grey/White-Dark Grey · Style code: 304292-011 · Release date: February 22, 2005 · Price: $35000 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Nike SB Dunk Low Supreme Cement (2002) Sneakers (304292-001) · Nike Dunk Pro Low SB 'Gino 2' (304292-002) · Nike Dunk Low Pro Sb 'Ostrich' (304292-003) · Nike Dunk Low Pro SB 'Carhartt' (304292-004) · Medicom Toy x Nike Dunk Low Pro SB 'Medicom 2' (304292-005)
The choice of animal was the joke. Jeff Ng (Jeff Staple) had founded Staple Design in New York in 1997 and ran a clothing line, an agency and a Lower East Side shop under it. Asked to contribute to Nike SB's White Dunk series, he picked the pigeon: the bird nobody in the city looks at twice, the opposite of the eagles and falcons that normally end up on sportswear.
The shoe is quiet. Two shades of grey across the upper, a white swoosh, red at the lining and outsole, and the bird stitched onto the lateral heel in grey thread.
What happened around it was not. Roughly two hundred pairs were made and sold only in New York. Queues formed days ahead, the crowd turned, police were involved, and the story ran on the front page of a city paper. Nike SB had launched three years earlier and had already produced collaborations people wanted; this was the first time a sneaker release became general news.
Everything since (the raffles, the app launches, the security at door openings) traces back to that week. It listed at $200.