Nike SB Dunk High 'Unkle'

'Give me an UNKLE sneaker'

James Lavelle tells the story of the shoe as a dare that came true. Introduced by Stash, Lavelle and his Mo' Wax associates met Nike's Mark Parker and Sandy Bodecker, the executives who had helped set up the Nike SB program, who came to London to see them. Asked what he wanted to do, Lavelle remembers saying, 'I want to make my own [expletive] sneaker man! Come on, give me an UNKLE sneaker!' They laughed, he said, and then said, 'Okay, let's do it!'

At the time, Lavelle recalled, 'Nike didn't make sneakers for bands or artists, they only made sneakers for sports stars,' and factories had little interest in making small runs of anything. He was 29, living in London, 'some kid that did a Label,' and suddenly he had his own Nike. 'It wasn't about business, you know it didn't make any money,' he said in 2020. 'It was just this creative desire, and also this egotistical desire I suppose!'

The original designs were for a low-top, and designer Ben Drury, who also made artwork for Mo' Wax, submitted early versions that did not go ahead. As Lavelle remembers it, Bodecker suggested a high-top because it would be different from everything else happening then, and promised a small run of lows for Lavelle and his crew. The process took, by Lavelle's estimate, six months to a year.

Lavelle, Mo' Wax and Futura

James Lavelle was born in Oxford, England, on February 22, 1974. He founded the Mo' Wax label in 1992, which released records by DJ Shadow and Dr. Octagon among others, and he has been the only constant member of UNKLE, whose first album, Psyence Fiction, came out in 1998. The second, Never, Never, Land, was released on September 22, 2003, and reached No. 24 on the UK albums chart.

Futura, born Leonard Hilton McGurr in New York City in 1955, began painting graffiti on the city's subway in the early 1970s, showed alongside Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat in the early 1980s, and is known for pioneering abstract street art. In the mid-1980s his gallery career stalled; Lavelle later revived it by commissioning artwork for Mo' Wax releases, and Futura went on to create the imagery that largely defined UNKLE.

Who designed the shoe is still argued. Nike's own archive describes it as made with UNKLE and 'their visual director and frequent SB coconspirator, Futura,' and many sellers bill it as a three-way collaboration. Futura himself, interviewed for the documentary Sneakerheadz, said he had no input: the UNKLE characters on it were ones he had created for Mo' Wax in the 1990s, and 'I never really liked it. I don't want to blow up the spot and say it was completely unauthorized, but it was a little bit like "Oh... oh you're doing it? Oh ok."' A May 2026 ranking put it more simply: 'this is not an official Futura collaboration.'

A sampled sneaker

Lavelle wanted the shoe to work the way his records did. 'I was coming from this very sample collage way of making records and I wanted to kind of apply that idea to the sneaker,' he said, describing embroidery, painted artwork and graphics 'done as a negative of the original artwork' from the Never, Never, Land piece. He also wanted to 'use every material that we possibly could': leather, suede and a laminated finish all appear on the upper.

The pink was a deliberate risk. Nike SB was about to introduce a new pink shoebox, and Lavelle thought 'if we did something in pink that could be pretty [expletive] insane.' He wanted it 'quite garish in a certain way' without being 'colourfully over the top.' The result has a black leather upper with pink overlays, a white Swoosh above Futura's characters on the side panel, a black midsole and a cream outsole. Pairs came with alternate white laces and Mo' Wax-branded insoles.

The characters are Futura's Pointman and Atmos figures. The official colorway is listed as Black/White, the style code is 305050 013, and it was the first Nike SB shoe to ship in a pink box, the packaging that gave its name to the era that followed.

Nobody seems to know who coined the nickname. 'It became the Dunkle, which I don't even know who came up with that title,' Lavelle said in 2017. 'It was a kind of joke I think. It was like, you done the Unkle Dunk, it's the Dunkle.'

Release, the missing low and the market

The high-top released in September 2004 through Nike SB accounts in limited numbers. Nike has not published a production count; one sale listing repeats the rumor of fewer than 1,000 pairs. Release databases list its retail price as $70 or $75.

The low-top stayed in the family. Nike's archive shows an unreleased D.U.N.K.L.E. Low, made only for Lavelle and his friends. How many exist is unclear: one fan reference says five pairs, while Lavelle's 2020 interviewer put it at 25, and Lavelle recalls Bodecker offering '25 Lows for you and your crew.' In 2005 the Singapore customizer SBTG also made 24 pairs each of UNKLE high and low customs for Lavelle.

Pairs have moved through the secondary market for two decades. A size 10.5 pair was offered at auction in July 2019 and did not sell. A size 8.5 pair was later listed for immediate sale at $2,000, and as of October 2026 a sneaker resale shop listed new pairs at $2,348. For comparison, Futura's own Dunk High 'FLOM' sold at auction for $63,000 in 2020.

Its standing among collectors is high. One editorial list ranks it No. 14 among the greatest Dunks; a May 2026 ranking of SB Dunks put it at No. 4, calling it 'probably the best Futura x Nike collab ever, even if it actually isn't.' Lavelle has said he is proud of how it has 'lasted the test of time.'

The numbers

Style code

305050 013

Colorway

Black/White

Release

September 2004 (September 1, 2004, per release databases)

Retail price

$70 per one release database; $75 per another

Release type

Nike SB accounts only, limited; first Pink Box release

Production

Not published by Nike; rumored at fewer than 1,000 pairs

Timeline

1. Feb 22, 1974

   James Lavelle is born in Oxford, England.

2. 1992

   Lavelle founds the Mo' Wax record label.

3. 1998

   UNKLE releases its first album, Psyence Fiction.

4. 2002

   Nike SB launches with four Dunk colorways for its pro team.

5. Sep 22, 2003

   UNKLE releases Never, Never, Land, whose Futura artwork is later used on the shoe.

6. Sep 2004

   The Dunk High Pro SB 'D.U.N.K.L.E.' is released, the first Nike SB shoe in a pink box; release databases give September 1.

7. Oct 24, 2004

   An expanded edition, Never, Never, Land Revisited, is released.

8. 2005

   A matching Dunk Low, never sold at retail, is made for Lavelle and his circle.

9. 2005

   SBTG makes 24 pairs each of UNKLE Dunk High and Low customs for Lavelle.

10. 2017

    Lavelle discusses the shoe in the documentary Fifteen Years of SB Dunk.

11. Jul 23, 2019

    A size 10.5 pair is offered at auction and goes unsold.

12. May 2020

    Lavelle recounts the shoe's creation in a published interview, recalling the meeting with Mark Parker and Sandy Bodecker.

13. Sep 2020

    Futura's own Dunk High 'FLOM' sells at auction for $63,000.

14. May 15, 2026

    A ranking of the 30 best SB Dunks places the Unkle at No. 4.

The world in 2004

• Jan 25, 2004

  NASA's Opportunity rover lands on Mars.

• Mar 11, 2004

  Train bombings in Madrid kill at least 192 people.

• Apr 1, 2004

  Google launches Gmail.

• May 1, 2004

  The European Union expands by 10 member states.

• Aug 13, 2004

  The Summer Olympics open in Athens, running through August 29.

• Nov 2, 2004

  George W. Bush is reelected president of the United States, defeating John Kerry.

• Dec 26, 2004

  The Indian Ocean earthquake off Sumatra triggers one of the largest tsunamis ever observed.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Nike SB Dunk High 'Unkle' is number 40 of 100 in the sneakers entries of the FLOAT 100. 22 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (48 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• It was the first Nike SB shoe ever packed in a pink box, the start of what collectors call the Pink Box era.
• Futura, whose characters cover the shoe, has said he had no input in it and 'never really liked it.'
• Lavelle says he has no idea who first called it the 'Dunkle.'
• The design started life as a low-top; Sandy Bodecker steered it to a high.
• Lavelle's first Nike project, a 1990s running promotion, had a rule that the music be all new with no samples.
• Pairs came with Mo' Wax-branded insoles and a spare set of white laces.