About

Nike Dunk

The Dunk began in 1985 as a marketing idea, not as a performance shoe. Nike wanted university teams to play in their own colors and built a model whose panels were deliberately separated so they could easily be made in two tones. The shape of this shoe therefore arose from a production requirement.

First: which Dunk are you looking at?

This page mixes three families, and they differ in more than height. The Dunk High wraps the ankle and has a padded collar with a loose flap; the Dunk Low leaves the ankle free and is therefore the silhouette you’ll most often encounter. The Dunk SB is not a matter of cut but of construction: thicker tongue, more cushioning in the sole and sturdier material at wear points, because that version is adapted for skateboarding. Everything said later about the shape applies to all three; the rest does not.

Panels as building blocks

That explains why a Dunk looks different from an ordinary basketball shoe. The upper consists of clearly defined leather panels with sharp seams between them, rather than parts flowing into each other. Each panel can take its own color without the design falling apart. What began as a limitation became the model’s strongest feature.

Family of the Air Jordan 1

The Dunk appeared in the same year as the Air Jordan 1 and visibly shares its silhouette. That’s no coincidence: both come from the same design period and the same way of thinking about how a basketball shoe should look. The differences are in the detailing and the sole construction, not in the basic form.

The second life on a board

In the nineties skateboarders discovered the model, for practical reasons: the flat sole gives board feel and the sturdy leather resists abrasion. Nike later built a separate skate version with more cushioning in the sole and a thicker tongue against impacts. A model designed in pieces and, because of that, fit everywhere.

On this page you can see which versions of the Nike Dunk are currently hottest according to the Hypescore, from what price they can be found, and in how many shops they are in stock.