PINOY SNEAKERHEAD: SCHOOLED Ep. 1: NIKE DUNKS

NIKE DUNKS...

what is a NIKE DUNK shoe? okey let me take you down on a short trip to memory lane

NIKE DUNKS - it is a shoe that is made by NIKE in the 80's (1985 to be exact). Designed after the AIR JORDAN 1 and the NIKE TERMINATOR's "fraternal twin". The Nike Dunk has become a popular "subcultural" icon for so-called sneakerheads, or enthusiastic sneaker-collectors. Since its reintroduction in 1998, the Dunk has transformed from a basic basketball shoe into a subcultural icon and an inspiration for fashion, culture, and art. Originally designs and colorways are exclusive for college basketball for their "COLLEGE COLORS" Program. Introduced with many colorways on HIGH TOPs and LOW TOPs.

Style

The Nike Dunk SB has been offered nearly in every colorway on the planet. From graffiti artists to the skateboarding and basketball spectrums – many have created customized Nike Dunk SB tailored to appeal to their individual sub-cultures. As simple as these sneakers seem, Dunks are super hot and seemingly every hipster from east to west owns at least one pair.

Price

The SB Dunk retails on average between $65.00 - $99.00; relatively low for sneaker standards. However, since they’re popular among collectors and skateboarders alike, many stores tend to raise the prices on the shoes based on how high the demand is. This happens when a shoe is "hyped" up, or overly talked about and anticipated, therefore justifying a much higher prices by the masses than suggested retail. Hype is considered "dangerous" by many sneaker enthusiasts, due to the fact that Nike has lowered the quality of materials and manufacturing for the Nike SB Dunk since the first generation of shoes were released. When the prices of the shoes sold by stores hike higher and higher; some of the more rare, "limited", or hyped shoes sell for over a thousand dollars a pair.* Info from Nike

A Word on 'Hype'

When you buy a pair of Nike Dunks, buy them because you like the colors and overall style of the shoe, not because they are hyped up on countless blogs. Usually, that same colorway will be re-created under a new name with a slightly different edge or different colored laces. Often, it will occur only a moth or two from the original limited edition design release. There’s only so much you can keep creating using the same sneaker canvas. Think about it. Be a smart sneaker shopper. Don't buy into hype. There will always be hot sneakers coming out of Nike – and often the limited edition you may have missed a chance on will reappear as a regular edition with only a slight design variation.

Rooting into skate culture

Nike's basketball shoe line was fairly popular in the skateboarding scene, and the Dunk soon became a popular shoe for skaters due to the stability and lower profile sole which improved grounding performance. After some time, Nike created a Dunk specifically for skateboarders, known as the Nike SB Dunk. It features an extra-padded "puffy tongue" (common among skateboarding sneakers) and Nike's patented Zoom Air insole. Since then, the SB Dunk has become a popular icon for enthusiastic sneaker-collectors, and has hit the streetwear fashion scene. Nike currently collaborates with many designers to create special edition and collectible Dunks. The popularitiy of these dunks has grown so wide that it has prompted Nike to create many other kinds of shoes specifically for skateboarding such Paul Rodriguez's, Tre's, Blazer's, and Team Editions to name a few. These shoes mimic the colorways and limited quantities of that of Nike Dunk Sb's, which increases their value and appeal.

So yan to continue regarding Dunks, Uso na to ngayon sa mga kabataan mapagirls or boys lalo pa't andaming CLASS-A or HQuality na binebenta sa Greenhills at Divisoria. Mas mura kesa sa orig. siyempre less 3000,2000 or more sa orig. price ng authentics, siyempre peke naman yun. Pero mabalik tayo, karaniwan na nakikita ang Nike Dunk ngayon lalo na sa mga HIPSTER and sa HIPSTER SCENE, sa mga FAUX HIP-HOP ganyan mga suot nilang kicks. Later on NIKE DUNKS were into SKATEBOARDING scene then NIKE SB was BORN, this time with padded tounges made for skate. Karamihan ng mga dunks ngayon puro SB na.

As i mentioned before, i first saw the dunks sa vid ni PHARELL then sabi ko ng nakita ko yung video niya astig nun kulay dilaw na old skool na nike. Tapos nun nakita ko na suot na nila JAMIR GARCIA,ROGEL AFRICA,MONG ALCARAZ etc. kung di nyo sila kilala sila eh sila lang naman ang mga miyembro ng bandang SLAPSHOCK, VALLEY OF CHROME at CHICOSCI/SANDWICH respectively. As far as i know sila rin ang isa sa mga pioneer ng mga DUNK COLLECTORS dito sa Pinas.

Sa ibang bansa parte na ito ng kanilang kultura, pamumuhay at lifestyle. Ika nga they can't live a healthy lifestyle without wearing NIKE DUNKS. O di ba? kakaiba na ang trip nila.
Madaming celebrities din ang avid collectors ng Dunk gaya ni Pharell Williams pero is sa mga die-hard Dunk Collector e si DJ AM (ex-fiance ni NICOLE RITCHIE) na kasama ni TRAVIS BARKER dun sa airplane tragedy, goodthing nabuhay naman sila ni TRAVIS or kung hindi di na niya makikita mga DUNKS niya.

Tulad nga ng nasabi sa info, may mga mga DUNKS na mamahalin, most expensive dunks ever was sold at $40,000! Crazy ei? but for a real Sneakerhead they would spend for rarity.

"MOST EXPENSIVE DUNKS sold on EBAY"

Sa NIKE DUNKS mas RARE mas MAHAL, LIMITED EDITION mas mahal. Pag nga magrerelease ng limited edition na sapatos eh people would camp out sa retail store just to get a pair, call them crazy but thats a true sneaker enthusiast. Limited edition Dunks would release 100 pairs only worldwide, sometimes mas less pa meron 24 pairs like the ones shown below (this was sold for 10,000 friggin dollars!) This shoe is a collab between UNDEFEATED and NIKE thats why its limited. Mahilig naman makipagcollab ang Nike.

Like this PIGEON Dunk (a collab from NIKE and STAPLE Design). 150 pairs made exclusive for NEW YORKERS, even a riot broke out in NYC just for this pair (read FACTS & CONTROVERSIES Ep. 3: RIOT OVER A PIGEON)

Perhaps one thing that is nice about DUNKS is you can customize it. A lot of collectors or artist customize dunks to sell it in limited quantities. Some make a Graffiti or Graphic design over it pero isa sa mga kilalang artist na nagcucustomize ng Dunks eh si MARK ONG a.k.a SBTG famous for his works on the SBTG Custom Dunks.

Overall NIKE DUNK's are one of the popular shoe in style & fashion today, from a real sneakerhead, sneakerfan, fashionista, hipsters, mapahiphop man yan o mapametal, DUNK's are their no.1 choice of sneakers. Kasi kahit saang porma pwede mo isuot eh plus the colorways are dope! Those who like 'old skool' kicks would never resist those tempting and yummy colorways. To me Dunks are one of the reasons why people today are going crazy over sneakers some appreciate it deeply some are not. For sure Dunks will definitely be an fashion icon.
so there yah go! thats for now about dunks, ill add more if there's any more news about this shoe. Pero sa ngayon ill give in my TOP 5 Favorite NIKE DUNKS.

5. WHAT THE DUNK - lahat ng dunks na design nandito na different design sa magkabilang pair.