The Nike Dunk Is Now a Perfect Summer Sneaker
By Jake Woolf.
1985 was a monumental year for Nike basketball sneakers. It was the year a soon-to-be game-changing Nike basketball sneaker named after a high-flying rookie (name: Michael Jeffery Jordan) first debuted. It was the year the court-ready Nike Terminator came out. And it was also the year the Nike Dunk was born. To the untrained eye, all three of the now-classic basketball silhouettes look the same—but Nike diehards know differently.
Out of the three releases, the Dunk was the outlier. It's constructed in the vein of the Nike Legend, an ever older basketball model by the Swoosh known for its comfortability. In 2002, the Dunk got a re-design through SB, Nike's skateboarding line, which gave the sneaker a wider shape and padded tongue—as well as a second wave of popularity via some of the wildest and most colorful Nike collaborations of all-time, like the Nike x Diamond Supply Co. "Tiffany" Dunks in 2004, the "Freddy Krueger" Dunks in 2007, and the Nike x Supreme Dunks in 2002. But over the last decade, Nike Dunks have become a tough sell in a world that's learned to favor slim jeans and skinny suits.
Thanks to Flyknit, Nike's lightweight woven fabric, the Nike Dunk Low is looking fresh once again—especially in an ultra-crisp all-white colorway. Both literally and figuratively, they're one of the coolest summer sneakers of 2017.
Last week Nike re-released the original Flyknit Trainer (a North America release is still coming on August 24), which first debuted in 2012. And in just five short years, Flyknit has changed the way Nike can re-invigorate archival styles like the Nike Dunk. In 2016, Flyknit came to the Air Force 1, and we named it one of the breeziest and most stylish summer sneakers of the year. The Nike Dunk Flyknit is following in those well-knit footsteps.
These Flyknit-enhanced Dunks are a wear-with-anything style—perfect for the beach, or matched up with some slim chinos, a gray T-shirt, and lightweight navy blazer. Wearing them is the easy part; it's keeping them clean that might turn out to be tricky. That's because, while Flyknit is brilliant at keeping your feet cool, it's also a dirt magnet. Luckily, as a part of our Best Stuff series, we've got everything you need to keep these fresh kicks, well, fresh all year long.
The Nike Dunk Low Flyknit "Triple White" is available now in Japan and will be released soon at Nike Sportswear locations in North America.
This story originally appeared on GQ.
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