The gang over at Nike SB have been hard at work forming several innovative collaborations lately, demonstrating their support for many smaller companies & skateboarding’s new paradigm. There has often been a disconnect between big corps and skateboarding’s esoteric fashion sensibilities. But last fall they showed some critical insight by dropping this bomb; Nike SB & NBA.
Koston rocks the yellow “Lakers” bomber & Nicole Hause proves white girls CAN jump fences. And Kyrie thinks the world is flat, so why would you need his permission to skate his pool?
I remember when my dad bought me my first pair of Nikes. I was 8 or 9, ballin’ in the latchkey kid YMCA league. He took me to Foot Locker and bought be a white, red and black pair of Jordan 1s. Being short and kind of slow, my basketball career was short lived. But in your face cause I still had by far the flyest fucking kicks on the team.
Two of my great loves are skateboarding and NBA. The same could be said for many others here in Portland. Skateboarding fashion has always been influenced by basketball, especially when it comes to the classics. For this project, SB redesigned some iconic silhouettes into items perfect for skating ledges by day and a Kiss-Cameo by night. With understated swaggitry, the line is the antithesis of a flashy Jimmy Butler arena arrival outfit; the collection was debuted with a tasteful all-white Blazer Low last September, with color only featured on an NBA/SB inner tag.
My favorite clothing item in the line so far are the bomber jackets in team colorways with only an oversized NBA logo on the front/side. Beyond the Portland Trailblazers, I consider myself a fan of the entire league, so the relative ambiguousness of the jacket makes me really stoked. Blue with red and white details, mine is probably a Clippers model but could also be the Pistons or maybe Buzz Lightyear, who knows. Important thing is all the compliments I get while wearing it.
Like “Chucks,” Nike Dunks have always been a shoe repurposed for skateboarding. In 2002 SB took over the design and its days in the D league were over. Like other recent SB designs, Nike covered the Cavalier Dunk High colorways with a black outer layer that rubs off with wear. Shoutout to elbow grease produced by the hard-working people of Cleveland? In a sneaker culture obsessed with preservation, it’s pretty cool that these get personality with wear. The question is; how many kick flips does it take till you get to the center of the…Skate in these and your NBA love will slowly be revealed. Check out more of the collection here.
*Editor’s Note: A Blazer Low was released shortly after the Cleveland Dunk Highs that reveals the colors of that team from Oakland.
