Nike

Nike Dunk Low ‘Virgil Abloh x Futura Laboratories’ — Friends & Family Edition

NIKE, NIKE DUNK LOW

SIZE 13

Leather, Rubber, Cotton

2019

In 2019 at Off-White™ c/o Virgil Abloh’s Spring/Summer 2020 show in Paris amongst the field of white carnations that lined the runway, the world caught its first glimpse of the Nike Dunk Low interpretation by ‘Virgil Abloh™ x Futura Laboratories’. The sneakers were an anchor piece of the season’s collection which saw the late founder of Off-White™, Virgil Abloh, collaborate with the legendary artist on a series of garments customized with his signature abstract style-shirts, pants, and a baby blue sculptural rendition of Futura’s otherworldly character: Pointman, a reoccurring figure in his artistic universe.

The shoes combine stylistic cues from both creative minds — from Futura’s signature abstract hand to Virgil’s now iconic double-laced take on the classic Nike Dunk silhouette. Virgil conceived of the collaboration as an opportunity to recognize and celebrate Futura not only as a fellow Nike collaborator and designer of some of the most coveted sneakers in Nike’s history, but as a pioneer in the space of art, culture, and commerce that Virgil had inherited and expanded. The sneakers captured the internet’s imagination in their distillation of Virgil’s ethos.

The Dunks are a reinterpretation of a classic Nike silhouette refracted through Virgil’s unique lens which combined his deep understanding of Nike’s history, his subcultural bonafides, and his aesthetic sensibilities.

Origins of The Nike Dunk Low ‘Virgil Abloh™ x Futura Laboratories’

For Futura and Virgil, the sneakers represented more than an internet-breaking moment, but a means of disrupting sneaker culture and the cycles of hype that so characterize it in this contemporary moment. The shoes were developed with as minimal a team as possible as to foreclose any possibilities of leaks. The Paris Fashion Week moment was orchestrated to be an unorthodox venue for the debut of a sneaker, harkening back to the element of surprise that characterized early sneaker culture. Perhaps most critically, the shoes were never intended for wide commercial release.

Futura and Virgil, both acutely aware of the dominance of monetary worth in sneaker culture discourse, developed the ‘Virgil Abloh™ x Futura Laboratories’ Dunks as an answer to the question: “how do we create an invaluable sneaker?” The extremely limited allotment was designated for auction for the benefit of a non-profit of importance to Virgil and Futura. The remaining shoes were to be distributed to Virgil and Futura’s communities —friends, artists, designers — all of deep personal significance to the pair. 

Each pair was to be a personalized one-of-one gift that was a metaphor for the invaluable spirit of community, friendship, and collaboration.

The Nike Dunk Low ‘Virgil Abloh™ x Futura Laboratories’: The Reinterpretation of a Classic Design

Futura and Virgil designed two colorways of the Nike Dunk Low. The orange and blue ‘Virgil Abloh™ x Futura Laboratories’ Dunks are a nod to Futura’s New York Mets fandom and another canonical Nike Dunk Low SB release, the 2002 ‘Danny Supa’ Nike SB Dunk which helped launch Nike’s official skateboarding arm Nike SB. Futura quite literally made his name as a graffiti writer in New York City and was on the cutting edge of the shift from the decipherable letter-making of early graffiti writers to more abstract forms that paralleled some of the concurrent movements happening within the white walls of the formal art world. That signature abstraction dances across the uppers of both colorways.

The pair also features Futura Laboratories ‘FL’ logo which also grace Futura’s incredibly rare FLOM (‘For the Love of Money’) Nike Dunk Highs which similarly were released in 2003 to a small group of close friends and family. The Nike Dunk Low ‘Virgil Abloh™ x Futura Laboratories’ is undoubtedly a spiritual successor to the Nike Dunk High ‘FLOM’ — the 2003 Dunk integrating images of a variety of currencies on the sides of the upper. A modified version of Virgil’s famous Helvetica date and place of origin stamp appears on the medial upper, this time with the “Nike Dunk Low” stylized in Virgil’s handwriting. The signatures of both Virgil and Futura sit underneath the blue semi-transparent soles of both shoes, a quiet imprint of their creators and their hand styles.

On offer is an exclusive pair of the Nike Dunk Low ‘Virgil Abloh x Futura Laboratories,’ accompanied by the highly sought-after Friends and Family packaging.

Originally seeded to select friends and collaborators of Virgil Abloh and Futura, each pair from this special release was delivered in a custom orange-branded Pelican case, along with a limited edition commemorative card. Notably, each shoe featured the recipient’s name handwritten on the midsole in pen. Prior to being consigned to Sotheby’s, the original personalization was carefully removed.