As we start off the new year, the popularity of sneakers has elevated to a new height with so many new collaborations on the way as well as retros that sneakerheads have been begging for. However, one of the biggest collaborations that Nike has ever done is with Travis Scott, a musician who continues to create buzz and hype in the sneaker culture. He has already gained much recognition due to his previous shoes that he dropped before with Nike and Jordan, such as the Jordan 1’s (both high and low), Jordan 6’s, Jordan 4’s, and the AirForce 1 lows. His shoes have drawn in a big crowd due to his amazing designs from the reversible swoosh to the removable swoosh. He has pushed boundaries that were never seen before with the Nike Jordan company. Nike continues to give the fans what they want as they have scheduled for another Travis Scott shoe to drop this upcoming February on the 29th. This sneaker is said to be his most creative yet.
The Nike SB Dunk, an early classic skating shoe that was popular in the early 2000s but over the years has dropped in popularity, is the next shoe that Scott has decided to work on. He is attempting to recreate that love that the Dunks once had in the early 2000s. The first appearance that the shoe made was during his latest music video “JACKBOYS” which came out on December 27, 2019. In the video, Scott can be seen in the shoes allowing fans a glimpse of the shoe that will be next to drop in his line of work with Nike. New pictures of the shoes were soon leaked after a month of only seeing them in the video. Since then, Nike has scheduled an official release date for the shoes and set the retail price at $150.
To go more in-depth, Herman Esquivel gave some insight on this new product. Esquivel has a very deep love for sneakers and also owns a pair of Travis Scott 1s. Herman was asked what his initial thought of the shoe was. He said, “This shoe that Travis Scott is dropping is different from the ones that he has dropped in the past.” Esquivel also makes a good point about how Scott has already made a name for himself by having a backward swoosh that is previously shown in his first Jordan 1 collaboration released back in May of 2019. With his new collaboration on the SB Dunks, however, he has decided to stay away from that safe area and come out with something that he has never done on his past sneakers with Nike.
Esquivel explains, “I like that Travis Scott was experimenting with something new on this sneaker.” One of the biggest examples that Esquivel brings up is the different designs that the shoe has to offer. “The paisley and checkered print oddly go together on the body of the sneaker with a nice rope lace to tie it all together.” Although Esquivel was already amazed by the sneaker due to the design, he also explains the biggest reason why he loves the Dunk collaboration. “It is because of the memories that the shoe gives me of back home in southern California and growing up in a heavily Mexican-influenced area.” The patterns that the shoe provides bring him back to growing up in the Los Angeles area around gang culture. It is filled with the beauty that comes from graffiti art, the different patterns of bandanas that are shown off, and the heavy fashion styles in the city of angels. He also mentioned that the rope lacing on the shoe gives them a grungy look that Scott has shown to be a big part of his personal taste in fashion.
One thing he wishes would be different is that the shoe would have been placed at the regular retail value of $100 instead of the $50 jump in price. Hopefully, customers can expect the shoes to have better quality if the prices are this high and not placed at $150 only because of the name behind them. Overall, he believes the shoe is worth the retail price and he also expects the shoe to be valuable for resale to fellow sneakerheads for over double the price of the original. Travis Scott will always be in sneaker history for his idea behind the backward swoosh on the Jordan 1s. However, Esquivel enjoys the fact that he is now leaving that design in the past and is moving forward with new ideas that will not only bring life back into the SB Dunks, but will also shift sneaker culture once again.
