Exclusive: The Black Nike ‘Pigeon’ Dunk Releases This Week
In February 2005, Reed Space founder and renowned designer Jeff Staple delivered a sneaker icon: the Nike “Pigeon” Dunk SB Low. Twelve years later, he has created a follow-up look with Nike that will become a grail to a new generation of sneakerheads.
Arriving tomorrow is a new Nike “Pigeon” Dunk SB Low — which has been teased by Staple on social media for weeks — executed with a black upper paired with hits of pink. The new must-have shoe will be sold at the Reed Space pop-up shop on Orchard Street in New York’s Lower East Side neighborhood. (It’s located at 125B Orchard Street, where Extra Butter temporarily moved to renovate its longtime storefront.)
The limited-edition sneaker will retail for $110. The pop-up opens at 11 a.m. ET.
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“Some kids want the [Dunk] High, some kids abhorred the High. Some kids say, ‘Bring back the OG,’ and some say, ‘Don’t touch the OG,'” Staple explained to Footwear News. “How do you make everyone happy? You can’t. So we did what we wanted to do.”
Staple said after roughly three years of discussion, he and Jesse Leyva, senior creative director of Nike SB and ACG, worked together to create a gritty new look sneaker fans would love that also paid homage to the original shoe released more than a decade earlier.
As a nod to the OG “Pigeon” Dunk, the new model includes elements that were featured on the 12-year-old shoe, including the pink outsole (which is reminiscent of a pigeon’s foot), the original Zoom Air sock liner and the puffy tongue. (It also comes packaged in the original pink box.) A feature on all-new Nike Dunk SB Lows that wasn’t on the iteration in 2005 is its Achilles heel counter.
The silhouette’s upper is executed with premium leather and features pink pops on the Swoosh logo on the tongue label (the “Nike” and “SB” logos on the label are black) as well as the “Nike” branding on the heel.
In addition to the sneaker’s release, on Wednesday, Nike and Staple will distribute newspapers in bins for anyone to grab throughout downtown New York. The newspaper’s contents will document the working history of Nike and Staple, which includes NRF, the Navigation pack, the Nordic Pack and more.
Although sneaker enthusiasts clamor for a retro of the OG “Pigeon,” Staple isn’t sure they’ll be rereleased anytime soon.
“I wanted to place some respect on the OG because if you have that grail — I’m not saying it’s indefinite — but your grail is safe,” Staple said. “We’re not going to do a retro of that.”
