Nike SB Dunk Low 'Black Pigeon'

The bird that started it

The Black Pigeon only makes sense next to the shoe it answers. In the early 2000s Nike's new skateboarding division, Nike SB, made a set of extremely limited Dunks for its White Dunk exhibition, each tied to a city: Paris, Tokyo, London and New York. For New York, Nike asked Jeff Staple, a Lower East Side graphic designer who had already worked on several Nike shoes, to design 'a shoe that's dedicated to New York City.' His answer was the city's most ignored resident. The 'Pigeon' Dunk used three grays, black and white, an orange sole for the bird's feet and a pigeon embroidered on the heel.

The release, at Staple's Reed Space store at 151 Orchard Street on February 22, 2005, became sneaker folklore. Staple recalled kids camping outside for four days in a February snowstorm while he bought them pizza. On release day the police tried to break up a line of more than a hundred people; weapons including machetes and baseball bats were reported on the block, and buyers were escorted out the back to taxis. The next morning the New York Post ran the story on its front page. Nike SB's own archive dates the Pigeon to March 2005; most other accounts give February 22.

Accounts of the original run vary in detail. One gives 150 pairs, 30 for each of five New York shops; another says Reed Space received 30 pairs, each lasered with a Staple logo and numbered out of 30. Staple has said the shoe cost $32.50 wholesale. 'A lot of people call this shoe the shoe that catapulted sneaker culture to the masses,' he told one interviewer.

Taking out the color

For the return of the bird in 2017, Staple went the other way. 'While everyone else was taking the high road, we wanted to come with something unexpected,' he wrote when the shoe was announced. 'I wanted to remove all color, and just let the Pigeon be the story.' He noted that the release fell on both the 15th anniversary of the SB Dunk and the 20th anniversary of Staple.

The upper is black nubuck and Stetson waterproof leather, which Nike SB's archive describes as a way to make the shoe 'even more New York resilient.' Staple kept the padded thick tongue of the early SB Dunks but set it on a newer outsole with an internal heel lobe for lockdown, a combination the release notes say Nike had never made before. The shoe has Zoom Air in the heel, revives the original sock-liner print, and has the familiar pigeon embroidered at the heel in the orange that marked the 2005 pair.

It also came in the past. Although it was released during what Nike SB calls its Teal and Black box era, the Black Pigeon shipped in the pink box of 2005, a deliberate nod to the original.

Orchard Street, again

Staple took the release back to the same block. On November 6, 2017, he announced a one-day Reed Space pop-up with the New York boutique Extra Butter at 125 Orchard Street, one block from the original drop, set for Tuesday, November 7, at 11 a.m., with a capsule of long-sleeved shirts alongside the shoe.

The lines formed anyway, and the New York police shut down the campout about 12 hours before the doors opened. This time Staple had warned the police in advance. On release morning buyers were given numbered wristbands starting at 6 a.m., with officers and Nike security managing barricades. One account of the day described it as 'organized chaos,' and noted that many in line were older collectors who remembered 2005.

Inside, some pairs, given to the first customers and at random through the day, were laser-etched with 'LES 022205.110717,' the dates of the two Orchard Street releases. Staple signed some shoes and boxes in marker.

Newspapers, phones and a global drop

Nike then tried something new. The same week as the pop-up, a limited number of pairs went out through the augmented-reality camera in Nike's SNKRS app: special newspapers were hidden around New York, and pointing the app at an image inside them unlocked the chance to buy. That allotment sold out, and the global release followed on November 11, 2017.

The shoe was part of a revival. One sneaker site's history of the SB Dunk credited Nike SB's recovery in part to 'the latest Pigeon offering from Jeff Staple's brand,' and Staple returned again in early 2019 with a black-and-white 'Panda' Pigeon. Nike SB's archive calls the 2017 shoe the 'Pigeon II.'

How to read the shoe

A standard pair carries the style code 883232-008 and is black on black with orange accents at the heel, tongue and outsole, and the embroidered pigeon on the heel. Retail listings describe it as a Dunk Low; Nike SB files it as a Dunk Low Pro SB. One large resale shop lists it as the 'SB Dunk Low TRD QS.'

Pairs with the 'LES 022205.110717' laser etching came only from the New York pop-up and are the ones collectors look for. A size 8 lasered pair with a box signed by Staple has been offered at a fixed price of $1,100 with a letter of authenticity.

On October 1, 2026, a resale shop listed new pairs from $505 in men's size 6, rising to $2,122 for size 14.

The numbers

Style code

883232-008

Pop-up release

November 7, 2017, 125 Orchard Street, New York

App release

Week of November 6, 2017, via augmented reality in Nike's SNKRS app

Global release

November 11, 2017

Retail price

$110, per one resale marketplace

Production

Not published

Timeline

1. 1997

   Jeff Staple starts his Staple clothing line in New York; 2017 would mark its 20th anniversary.

2. 2002

   Nike forms its skateboarding division, Nike SB.

3. Feb 22, 2005

   The original 'Pigeon' Dunk releases at Reed Space, 151 Orchard Street, and police break up the crowd (Nike SB's archive dates the shoe March 2005).

4. Feb 23, 2005

   The New York Post puts the Pigeon line on its front page.

5. 2007

   Pigeon details appear on the 'What the Dunk,' a mash-up marking five years of SB Dunks.

6. 2015

   Staple's own Pigeon pair is displayed in the Brooklyn Museum's 'Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture.'

7. Nov 6, 2017

   Staple announces the 'Black Pigeon' and a one-day pop-up; that night police shut down the campout.

8. Nov 7, 2017

   The Black Pigeon releases at 125 Orchard Street; some pairs are laser-etched 'LES 022205.110717.'

9. Nov 9, 2017

   A limited SNKRS app release, unlocked through newspapers hidden around New York, is reported sold out.

10. Nov 11, 2017

    Global release, at a retail price of $110.

11. 2019

    Staple's 'Panda' Pigeon follows in black and white.

12. Oct 1, 2026

    New pairs are listed from $505.

The world in 2017

• Jan 20, 2017

  Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.

• Jan 21, 2017

  The Women's March drew about 2.9 million people, described as the largest single protest in U.S. history.

• Aug 21, 2017

  A total solar eclipse crossed the entire continental United States.

• Aug 25, 2017

  Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas as a Category 4 storm.

• Oct 5, 2017

  The New York Times published its exposé of Harvey Weinstein.

• Oct 31, 2017

  A truck attack on West Street in Lower Manhattan killed eight people.

• Nov 1, 2017

  The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games to win the World Series.

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 Low 'Black Pigeon' is number 63 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 (57 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The pop-up was a block from 151 Orchard Street, where the original Pigeon caused a near-riot in 2005.
• Some pop-up pairs are laser-etched 'LES 022205.110717,' the dates of both Orchard Street releases.
• It came in the pink Nike SB box of 2005, even though Nike had moved on to a different box.
• Part of the run was sold by scanning newspapers hidden around New York with a phone app.
• Staple says the original 2005 Pigeon cost retailers $32.50 a pair.
• Staple alerted the police ahead of the 2017 release; they still shut down the line the night before.