Nike Dunk Lo review

Holy Dunk!

I read somewhere that India is now 148th in FIFA world rankings. It recently moved up three places (to 148) because of winning the AFC Challenge cup, but they need to win many, many more tournaments to even start cracking the top 100. So imagine - if there was a ranking for "sneaker friendly countries", where would India land up? I would say it would have been at 200 couple of years ago, but recently things started moving in the right direction as far as all things sneakers go - Adidas opened its Originals store in Delhi and Bangalore, Reebok has gone ahead on an opening spree of 'Classics' stores and brands like Nike are doing their bit with sporadic releases of models like the Nike AF1 (they had quite a few in January last year, on the 25th AF1 anniversary) and other models like the iconic Nike Dunk, which we set out to review today. So all things said and done, I would say that India has rapidly inched up on the 'sneaker' rankings, and would now probably be at 120-ish.

This is the first review for a pair of Nike Dunks on solereview - not that we did want to, but due to the simple reason that there weren't any available. Nike in India has played coy of releasing kicks for the sneakerheads and has focussed so far on their performance stuff. Which is good for guys who want to go for a run or play a game of football, but it does little for sneakerheads who want more than just a pair of sedate white and blue running shoes to wear with their jeans. So seeing a pair of black, yellow Nike Dunks cheers up the scene a bit and we hope things get better with time.

The original Nike Dunk was first released in 1985 and is said to be the first basketball shoe which was made in different color combinations to match the colors of individual university Basketball teams in the US - it also came with a set of two laces and a matching box to boot. So it unwittingly became one of the first proponents of the sneaker colorway movement, which is pretty much mainstream today. Nike only re-introduced the shoe in 1998, and has since has become one of Nike's most best selling shoes ever, perhaps second in place only to the Nike Air Force 1. In 2002, the brand also released SB (Skateboarding) versions of the Nike Dunks with a padded tongue and triple stitching and the works, so the beefed up SB Dunks also found a home in the skateboarding fraternity as well. But what have made the Dunks so hot are the myriad variations in thousands of material and color combinations. Some are limited editions, many are not, but each edition is unique with a story of its own to tell. One of the most infamous SB Dunks is the Nike Dunk SB 'Pigeon', which caused a small riot on a street of New York, where there were only 20 pairs of the shoes available against over 100 sneakerheads who had camped there in anticipation of getting one.

Brazil inspired Dunks: The connection is pretty much evident - yellow and green color scheme on the sockliner with a graphic which has figures kicking ball.

This is one of the few Dunks I have ever seen selling in India, and I really wonder what is keeping Nike from getting these shoes on the shelves. I have seen Adidas being very consistent about selling Superstars every season and Nike should also pick a couple of models, say like the AF1 and the Dunks, and make sure they are in the stores all year around. After all, the Dunk one of Nike's best selling models across the world and India might get into liking these kicks very soon, provided they are available in the first place. You simply can't have people developing a taste for your products if you don't sell it to them! But for the moment, it's good to see these Brazil inspired Dunks, and hope we start seeing more of these shoes in the market here.

Most of the popular retro sneakers we know of have evolved from being a basketball shoe to a mainstream sneaker - worthy examples would be shoes like the Nike Air Force 1's, Adidas Superstars, or the Converse Chuck Taylors. It is not hard to see why - basketball shoes are practical for everyday use due to the use of sturdy materials and construction, they go well with anything which you wear, can be customised owing to their simple yet functional design and boy, they are durable. Even today, basketball shoes generously use genuine leather on the upper, extra dose of hard wearing rubber on the bottom and ample padding all around. And this is the reason why many of the older generation basketball kicks made into the skating scene - the flat soles provided maximum contact with the skateboard, the padding took care of hard landings and the all-leather uppers could take the daily scuff and grind of boarding.

Built to last: A combination of all leather upper and a durable cupsole makes all the difference.

The Brazil inspired Nike Dunk is no different - the black/white/yellow upper features genuine full grain and milled leather, with padding around the collar (rear) area, and a hard rubber cupsole all around which is stitched and pasted to the leather upper. Part of the midfoot area uses a tightly woven mesh for some air to pass through, and around 3/4th's of the tongue uses a thin layer of mesh on the top. There is some cushioning provided inside by way of the yellow and green insole (with the graphics). Since most part of the shoe is full grain leather, expect a break-in time, especially in the forefoot part where the lacing begins. While walking the first few days, you might feel the front part of the shoe digging into your foot, but that will disappear once you have put on a few miles in the shoe. Since shoes like the Dunks are not really familiar in India, many of us might expect the shoe to be as comfortable as the Air Max running shoe sitting on the next shelve, which is an unfair comparison. But what's sure is that these shoes will outlast a few pairs of regular running shoes, mile for mile so if you want to spend your money on a 'casual' sneaker, you might consider buying something like the Dunks instead of the usual fare.

In many more ways than one, this edition of the Nike Dunk is a visual treat. The black and yellow (Nike calls it varsity maize) colorway is a head tuner, but the white rubber midsole with the speckles mimicking paint splash is a very nice touch. These treatments are common place tricks when it comes to customization, but it is nice to see mass produced shoes with some of that element. The sockliner also has some surprises - the Brazil theme comes alive by way of a printed graphic on the molded foam and fabric sockliner - and if you turned the insole around, it replicates the texture of the rubber outsole. The alternating black and yellow color scheme in the lacing adds some flavor to the whole shoe as well.

It's great to see such kicks in our stores here, but my only fear is that this might turn out to be a onetime wonder and a damp squib. As a practice, Nike should stock at least a few colors of Nike Dunks and AF1's all the time in select cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore. It's also time to start getting sneakers like the SB Dunks with extra, extra thick tongue padding, triple stitching and crazy colorways. The day I see them in our stores, I will be a very, very happy man.

Note: One of our members, karanh, pointed out that he has seen these Dunks on the internet as part of the 'ACG Dunk pack'. Our take on that is though it might have been presented as a ACG color pack to online stores and websites, this Dunk is actually inspired by the Brazil Soccer colors - as a proof of this, look no further than the graphic on the sockliner - Sneakerologist