Final yr was, undoubtedly, the yr of the Nike Dunk. The sneaker world’s hottest gamers—everybody from Virgil Abloh to Travis Scott—gave the shoe their very own hype-heavy spin. Two of 2020’s most sought-after Swoosh collaborations had been Dunks made (in partnership with hippies, weirdly sufficient): first with Grateful Lifeless, after which with Ben & Jerry’s . Should you thought that Nike would possibly ease up on the gasoline pedal for the brand new yr, you would be sorely mistaken. The model simply unveiled a preview of a number of 2021 Dunks, and it seems to be just like the beloved silhouette will not be going away anytime quickly.

The Dunk will hit the bottom working within the new yr with a stream of basic launch drops. The primary three colorways of the Dunk Low will arrive subsequent week, the kind of traditional and anticipated Nike fare: black and white, pink and gray, and sail and coast. In February, issues get turned up a notch with one other Dunk Low in black and hyper cobalt. After which, in March, the Dunk Excessive drops in a white and orange blaze. 

None of those sneakers will include buzzy designer co-signs or an ultra-rare launch. They usually do not really want to. Over final yr, Nike laid the muse for the Dunk’s rise, constructing the hype and demand by means of strategic drops and big-deal collaborations. It is a transfer the model has executed repeatedly: generate pleasure and buzz for a silhouette after which launch a limitless provide for the lots who could not get their palms on the uncommon stuff.

Longtime Dunkheads will know that is really the second coming of the chunky sneaker. Again within the mid-aughts, the Dunk was the red-hot shoe inside the rising streetwear scene. The Diamond Provide Co. “Tiffany” Dunk and the Staple Design “Pigeon” Dunk—alongside a number of others—helped elevate the sneaker into one thing that streetwear followers lusted over. It fizzled round by the 2010s and stayed below the radar till it got here again with a full drive final yr. It’s fairly uncommon for a sneaker to get a second spherical within the solar like this, which is a real testomony to the Dunk’s lasting design attraction. Solely time will inform how lengthy the once-forgotten sneaker can keep this sizzling, however at the least for now, prepare for one more yr of Dunks on Dunks.