These last years, Nike has been dominating the sneakers culture due to many collaborations with influential athletes and artists like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Kanye West, Drake, and more recently Travis Scott and Billie Eilish. But what really hypes sneakers addicts recently are the collaborations with luxury brands like the Air Dior, an Air Jordan 1 mixed with the French luxury brand Dior, and the Air Force 1 Off-White Louis Vuitton, which was clearly the most awaited drop of 2022.
And of course, because of that success, they decided to continue with these luxury collabs, and the last luxury brand to work with them was the New York jeweler Tiffany & Co., recently famous for their collaboration with Patek Philippe. But this collab has much more meaning than any collab with Dior or Louis Vuitton because Nike made a dream come true with this pair. They brought to life a non-official collaboration that first happened back in 2005, a very rare Nike SB Dunk that made people crazy at the time.
The Myth Of The Nike SB Dunk Low Tiffany
In the early 2000s, Sandy Bodecker created Nike SB, the skateboarding section of the swoosh brand. He made the impossible possible by telling the rebel skaters what to wear even though it was totally opposite to their culture. After that, things started to get crazy for the sneakers culture, starting with the release of the Dunk Pigeon that provoked a riot in front of a sneaker store the day of the drop, something that has never happened before.
But in August 2005, a little skateshop called Diamond Supply Co. made history again by creating a turquoise and black Nike SB Dunk Low, designed by the brand and its founder Nicky Diamonds. Even though Internet wasn’t what it is today, everybody found out about the release of that shoe thanks to their MySpace account, and wanted to get their hands on these. Finally, the pair dropped and was of course sold out on the first day.
Before and after the drop, people started to call these sneakers the Nike Dunk Low Tiffany due to their color and references to the jewelry brand. But why was it historical? Because it was the first time that someone decided to link a luxury brand like Tiffany & Co. to sneakers. Let’s remember that in 2005, sneakers weren’t something classy at all, they were still sports shoes for most of them.
This Dunk had a beautiful brilliant chromed swoosh, some fake crocodile materials, and of course the diamond on the tongue that made people think that the reference to Tiffany & Co. was made on purpose. Of course, the homage wasn’t official so the colorway was called “Aqua Blue” and not “Tiffany”. But in 2023, Nike and the jewelry brand decided to make history by creating an official Nike collaboration with Tiffany & Co.
A Dream Comes True
In 2022, a surprise collaboration was announced between Nike and Tiffany & Co., and the hype was of course huge. Every sneaker addict remembers what happened in 2005 or knows what happened at that time. For them, this pair could only be a success and nothing else, thanks to its collaboration and also thanks to the common non-official history Nike has with the New York jewelry brand. And for this mythical collaboration, they chose to work on the legendary and most famous Nike: The Air Force 1.
At first, the pair wasn’t well received at all. Many people on the internet started to say the sneakers were too simple since they were only a black Air Force 1 with a Turquoise swoosh. People even told Nike to let Diamond Supply Co. work again on these so this pair could be as legendary as the SB Dunk Low. Other people even exaggerated, saying that AI would make better shoes than Nike and Tiffany & Co. But this last comment was a failure since everybody agreed to say the AI did terrible sneakers.
But did Nike x Tiffany deserve so much hate when it was announced? Of course not. The pair wasn’t meant to be flashy, it was meant to resemble the jewelry brand, so it was meant to be a classy and luxury product. That’s why the pair is entirely made of black suede and why only the turquoise swoosh is in leather. Plus, the sneakers cost $400, as a luxury sneaker would do. So maybe it is not the most flashy or original sneaker on the planet, but the promise is here and its aspect seduced a lot of people.
When It was released on Tuesday, the pair were directly sold out on any Raffle or Sneakers app, and today, you cannot find them for anything less than $1000. So contrary to what people said, the demand is here, and because of that, there’s already a rumor about a new colorway for this collaboration. But for now, let’s enjoy this pair and see if people are still interested in it, or if the demand goes down over time.
