This week, Supreme is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their original Lafayette Street location, and while the store/brand has come a long way from their skateshop roots over the years, one of the constants of the last decade or so has been an ongoing partnership with Nike. What began with their infamous SB Dunks has evolved into a diverse arsenal of Nike footwear collaborations that have since gone on to transcend the skate category and tap into some beloved street style icons as well. In tribute to a brand that has brought so much excitement to the sneaker culture, in this week’s installment of Staff Insights, we’ve selected our all-time favorite Supreme x Nike offerings.
JORDAN HAGEDORN
Supreme x Nike Dunk High (2003)
Of all Nike x Supreme collabs, the Dunk High three pack stands out most for me. This pack dropped the summer I graduated high twelve and was one of the first seriously limited sets that caught my attention.
The faux crocodile material and starred upper seemed like such simple cues, yet Supreme pulled the combo off in a compelling way, nicely playing off the heritage of college colored Dunks and matching the gold stars with additional gold hits on the tongue and Supreme branded dubraes.
To this day when I see any of the three colors I get nostalgic, throwing back to when I was 18 and this limited release had people going crazy, standing in line and eventually falling all over themselves to overpay for pairs on eBay.
AARON HOPE
Jordans coming out in october (2006)
I’m a big fan of the Blazer. I wear them casually and I have one pair that’s practically molded to my foot over the course of three years of weight training. I treat that beat pair with roughly the opposite of the kind of respect due to arguably the greatest Blazers of all-time. Supreme’s trio of SB hightops scream luxury and with deadstock pairs fewer and further between with each passing year, the prices are never going back below four figures.
With my various priorities, dropping five grand for the set simply isn’t practical for me right now. But the prospect of making that vision real feels really powerful so I’m going to use that as a goal: to be in a position not just to scrape together enough dough for one pair, but to cop the whole set without thinking about my bank balance — maybe even a second trio to put on ice. These go for nearly 2000% of the box price today, just imagine what they’ll be worth in eight more years . . .
AARON KR.
Supreme x Nike SB Trainer 2 (2007)
I haven’t found many people who are as in love with the Trainer 2 as I am, and that theory was solidified when Supreme helped re-introduce the shoe as a skate-friendly Nike SB model in ’07. While that four colorway pack was definitely not completely ignored, they were also pretty easy to get your hands on, which was pretty rare for Supreme x Nike releases at the time. Over time, I’ve picked up multiple pairs of everything but the white colorway and have rarely paid much more than retail.
Not sure why these never caught on more, especially with the Air Jordan IV netting on the midpanel and tongue. I kinda enjoy the fact that the Supreme Trainer 2s weren’t a mass appeal item, but I’m also a bit baffled as to why they weren’t. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say, and to me, they’re the best thing that the Supreme x Nike partnership has ever produced (along with the varsity jackets that released alongside). The royal/yellow has always been my favorite, but honorable mention goes to the black/red.
JOHN KIM
toy story nike dunks sale today (2009)
By the time of the release of the Bruins in 2009, all of the classic SB models had already been done. The Dunks and the Blazers were already in the books, so any collaboration between Nike SB and Supreme that came after that would dawn on a shoe that wasn’t nearly as popular as those three aforementioned models. In comes the Bruin, a classic Nike Basketball shoe that was, at the time, recently unearthed by Nike SB. The four released colorways were “OG” in every way (my dad had green leather Low Retros in the early 90s), but the execution on the entire collection is what made these one of Supreme’s best ever.
The double-sided hangtags, the bold font on the heels, the metallic insoles, and box logo on the midsole made me want all four pairs, but it was the trio of accompanying Nike pullover jackets that made the set complete. I only own the green pair of the Supreme Bruins (it had the slightest bit of sentimental value to it), but it still sits deadstock because a GR pair in green suede release not long after and I felt much more comfortable beating around a $40 pair than one I paid nearly five times as much for.
BRENDAN DUNNE
janoski nike floral sale uk stores online (2012)
I can’t claim to be an OG Supreme god, so I never really had a chance at their first couple of Nike SB Dunk Classics. With that being said those Lows and Highs were always up there as sort of an extremely out of reach sneaker that I knew I could never have. When it came time for them to revisit the elephant theme on the tenth anniversary of their first Dunk Lows, it still felt like I couldn’t have them.
I knew I wasn’t going to be sitting outside on Lafayette street for them, and I was on a bit of a down streak as far as luck with online sneaker purchases. Still, I got my autocomplete ready, played fair at the 11AM time and boom, they were mine. I’m a fan of Nike SB’s recent treatment of revisiting old Dunk classics while not exactly retroing them, and the Supreme pair has to be my favorite of the bunch. There are obviously others they’ve done that I respect more from a historical standpoint, but the 2012 Dunks I actually own so I’ll give them the nod here.
PATRICK JOHNSON
Supreme x Nike Air Force 1 (2012)
The Nike Air Force 1 x Supreme pack might not be the most important collaboration between the two, but it definitely marked a shift in Supreme noticing who their ever changing fan base was – it was the first time that Supreme would collaborate with a non-SB silhouette from the Swoosh. And the Nike Air Force 1 Low was the perfect silhouette to use before branching out to the likes of the Nike Lunar 1+ and most recently the Nike Air Foamposite One.
The brand did its best to just let the sneaker stand for itself – one that has come to define a generation of streetwear in New York City – thanks to subtle colorways of black, olive green and a camouflage version that at the time was definitely the most sought after due to the pattern craze that we’re still currently in. Each pair featured a waterproof NYCO fabric while a clean white midsole separated the uppers from the gum outsole. Add in the signature red Supreme logo stitched below the Swoosh and the craftsmanship of each pair was no doubt a brainchild of the quality that consistently comes out of Supreme.
