Vice Style

As a trainer purist, I hate Dunks. Mainly because I also hate pitiful trainer collaborations. When I used to work in a trainer shop, we used to take the piss out of the droves of kids queuing for the latest Supreme collaboration, or Union Air Force 180s, or the “Invisible Woman” Air Force Ones, or some Valentine's, St. Patrick's, Easter, or Halloween Nike crap. Yet here I am writing about a Nike collaboration. But that’s because the Dunk SB X Todd Bratrud is a sneaker inspired by skunk.   

Yep, a skunk Dunk. Sneakers and weed, my two silliest passions, combined in one object. I guess this is cool now because Nike is based in Oregon, one of the US States where medicinal weed is legal. Still, Nike weren’t always such teen-rebels, remember when they withdrew the Air Bakin because "Air" looked like it said something in Arabic?

The upper is made out from a hairy suede, in two shades of green, like two strains of weed. I would guess it's a nice orange bud mixed with some nice cheese. The swoosh is coloured purple in a little nod to purple haze. And, if you look closely, the stitching is orange, like those funny little hairs on skunk.

Team that with a stash pocket in the tongue and an insole drawing of a leaned-out skunk, (by skate artist Todd Bratrud), and you have the first drug shoe. Well, second I guess, because we had our adidas "Old Blue Last" AdiColor collaboration a few years back. Remember those? Complete with snorting tube lace-jewel and razor blade hang-tag. Eesh, that was an odd time. 

The "Skunks" will be on sale at Carnaby Street's Slam City Skates and the nice fellow I spoke to on the phone this morning reckons they will only be getting about twelve pairs, "next week some time". Thanks to Hypebeast for the pictures.

WORDS: THE ORACLE