Nike Dunk High Retro – Be True to Your School

This week sees the return of one of Nikes most recognisable basketball shoes of all time. The Nike Dunk first hit the court’s back in 1985 shortly after the introduction of a similar looking shoe by a Chicago based upstart named Michael Jordan.

Originally billed as the ‘College Color High’, the Dunk was contracted as the official team shoe for 12 targeted colleges across the country. At the time the popularity around college level basketball surged in a wave of colour, giving birth to the ‘Be True to Your School’ tagline which has been connected to the shoe since the beginning. The white base layer served as the perfect foundation for the most basic of colour additions, matching up to college game uniforms seamlessly.

With Peter Moore at the helm of design, visually the Dunk took elements from a few different sectors of Nike’s Basketball output of the same era. The midsole tooling was the same shape as the Air Jordan 1 of the same year, and aspects of the upper stemmed back to shapes found on the likes of the Terminator, Jordan 1 and their older sibling, Bruce Kilgore’s landmark Air Force 1 from 1985. The shoe sat toe-to-toe with some of the greatest baskteball styles released in the 80’s, and still stands tall as a classic that’s spanned generations.

After the release of a few different reissued variety’s over the past 30 years including the Low version and a Skate specific model for Nike SB, The Dunk High returns in all it’s original glory in 2016, paying homage to the colourways that kicked everything off. Starting with the ‘Kentucky’ and ‘St. Johns’ make-ups, two more colourways will release next month, continuing the celebration of a legend.

The Nike Dunk High ‘St John’s’ is now available online here and in selected size? stores (The Kentucky will be available shortly)