Nike Dunk

The Nike Dunk High was released in August 1985 as a high-top basketball sneaker, having been crafted out of four earlier Nike models – the Air Force 1, the Terminator, the Air Jordan 1, and the Legend. The shoe’s 1985 release coincided – and not coincidentally – with the golden age of basketball and its spotlit star, Michael Jordan. 

Being designed to accommodate basketball tactics and moves such as pivoting and blocking, the Nike Dunk became an instant success within the sport upon release – on its technical parameters that is. Truly, the 1985 Nike Dunk High became famous for something a little bit more colourful and symbolic than this, dubbed "Be True To Your School"

«Be True To Your School» was Nike’s first attempt at marketing the Nike Dunk. It offered Division I college basketball teams and their respective fans a way to don their team’s colors. This was a clever tactic, allowing Nike to organically market the Dunk on and beyond the confines of college arenas – championing a non-competitive approach to sport as well as school loyalties – and help the brand reap the benefits of the collegiate basketball leagues’ growing popularity.1990Skate culture was becoming a growing scene and Nike wanted in. 

The problem was that those cruising on their boards identified Nike as another large corporation attempting to enter their world. Nike wasn’t looking to the subculture, to those actually skateboarding and pioneering the scene. 

Commercial success and market ownership was Nike’s motivation.Back outside of Nike’s main point of vision was the Nike Dunk with its mid-life design tweaks, being adopted organically and lovingly by that same skateboarding consumer. This kicked off the real skateboarding beginning for the Swoosh, a beginning that was only natural because ultimately, as stated by a Nike spokesperson, «the shoe was perfect for skating». Skaters gravitated to the Nike Dunks once they’d fallen out of favor elsewhere. This allowed the model to take on a life of its own, finding a new home within the New York skate scene.Skateboarders loved the Nike Dunk because it was cheap and accessible, and offered the cushioning, support and traction needed for the sport. 

Towards the turn of the decade, Nike’s solution to its skateboarding problem became crystal clear. The design nuances helped push the growing trend forward, but it wasn’t until 2001 when Sandy Bodecker was appointed the general manager of Nike SB that the model successfully infiltrated the industry.