Nike SB Dunk Low 'NYC Pigeon'

A shoe for the city's everyday bird

Nike's skateboarding division, Nike SB, formally launched in March 2002 under general manager Sandy Bodecker, who had been appointed in 2001. Its core shoe was the Dunk Low Pro SB, an update of the old basketball Dunk with a fat tongue, a padded insole and a Zoom Air heel unit, sold through skate shops rather than mall chains. Collaborations with outside artists and brands quickly became the line's signature, and they arrived in limited runs.

Jeff Staple's version took its theme from the most ordinary resident of New York: the pigeon. The upper is a mix of gray tones with a white Swoosh, built in nubuck meant to suggest soft feathers. A pigeon is embroidered on the heel, and the outsole is colored like a pigeon's feet. The style code is 304292-011, and the pair shipped in the pink box of SB's 2005 era.

Staple has said the shoe was not built for hype. 'I purposefully wanted to make a shoe you could rock all the time or you can covet and put on a shelf,' he told an interviewer. By then, he said, he had already designed seven or eight shoes with Nike.

Jeff Staple and Reed Space

Staple was a Lower East Side graphic designer who founded the Staple Pigeon label in 1997 and opened Reed Space, a store and gallery at 151 Orchard Street between Rivington and Stanton, in 2002. The pigeon was already his brand's emblem, which is why Nike's collaboration became a tribute to the bird rather than to a landmark.

Distribution was tiny. Accounts agree on roughly 150 pairs in total. One account says they were split among five New York shops, with about 30 pairs each, and only the Reed Space pairs were individually numbered; a 10th-anniversary retrospective also puts Reed Space's allocation at 30 pairs. Nike has never published official figures.

The night on Orchard Street

Campers began arriving days before the drop. Staple bought pizza for the line the night before and went home with no idea what was coming, a retrospective recalled. The line grew from about 30 people to more than 100 in February cold. Staple later described kids sleeping out for four days in the snow.

On release day, February 22, 2005, police were called. Staple recalled officers pulling people off the store's gate, and said weapons, including machetes and baseball bats, were found on the ground; other retrospectives mention knives too. Buyers were let out the back of the store and escorted by police to taxis so they would not be robbed on the street.

Accounts of arrests do not agree. One retrospective says about 20 people were arrested. A New York Post feature published March 3, 2005, said a fight broke out at the Orchard Street shop but that no arrests were made. The Post had covered the release under the headline 'Sneaker frenzy,' and the drop also reached the CBS Evening News.

The Post's March story described men who had 'spent all night waiting in freezing temps to buy a pair of sneakers' at $300 a pair, and quoted a store manager saying resellers could 'turn $300 into $1,500 overnight.' Another account says Pigeon pairs were reselling for more than $1,000 within days.

From the gate to the auction block

The Pigeon's legacy within Nike came quickly. In October 2007 Nike SB's 'What the Dunk,' a collage of 31 earlier SB Dunks, carried the Pigeon's embroidered bird among its quotations. In 2017 Staple and Nike released a Black Pigeon, which Nike tied to the 15th anniversary of the SB Dunk and the 20th anniversary of Staple Design, saying the plain black upper was meant to 'just let the Pigeon be the story.' A white-and-black 'Panda Pigeon' followed in early 2019, its outsole printed with a tribute to the newspaper headlines of 2005.

Original 2005 pairs have since crossed the auction block. In a September 2020 online sale of eight artist-designed Nikes in New York, a size 10 pair signed by Staple carried an estimate of $25,000 to $30,000. Its reported result is not usable here: the sale recap printed the final price as '$25,2000.' In 2024, a size 10.5 pair with its original box sold for $20,400 at a collection sale in Toronto held May 31 and June 1.

The Pigeon is now routinely described as the release that carried sneaker culture into the mainstream. An auction catalog called it 'often credited as the release that brought sneaker culture into the mainstream zeitgeist,' and Nike's own release notes say that without it 'sneaker culture wouldn't be what it is today.'

Knowing an original

An original 2005 pair carries style code 304292-011 and the colorway Medium Grey / White / Dark Grey. The look is three grays, black, a white Swoosh and an orange-toned sole, with the embroidered pigeon on the heel. It shipped in SB's pink box. The Reed Space pairs were numbered, according to one account.

Do not confuse the original with its descendants. The 2017 Black Pigeon has an all-black upper. The 2019 Panda Pigeon pairs a white and black upper with green details and a newspaper-themed outsole. And 'What the Dunk' borrows only the embroidered bird.

The numbers

Release date

February 22, 2005

Retail price

$300

Production

About 150 pairs (not officially confirmed)

Style code

304292-011

Release store

Reed Space, 151 Orchard Street, New York

Timeline

1. 1997

   Jeff Staple founds the Staple Pigeon label.

2. 2001

   Sandy Bodecker is appointed general manager of Nike SB.

3. 2002

   Staple opens Reed Space at 151 Orchard Street.

4. Mar 2002

   Nike SB officially launches with the Dunk Low Pro SB.

5. Feb 22, 2005

   The Pigeon Dunk releases; police respond to the crowd at Reed Space.

6. Feb 23, 2005

   The New York Post covers the release under the headline 'Sneaker frenzy.'

7. Mar 3, 2005

   A New York Post feature reports the $300 price and a fight, but no arrests.

8. Oct 2007

   Nike SB's 'What the Dunk' quotes the Pigeon's embroidered bird.

9. Feb 22, 2015

   Tenth anniversary of the release is marked in sneaker press.

10. 2017

    The Black Pigeon releases, marking SB's 15th and Staple Design's 20th anniversaries.

11. 2019

    The Panda Pigeon releases with an outsole tribute to the 2005 headlines.

12. Sep 29, 2020

    A Staple-signed size 10 pair closes in a New York online sale, estimated at $25,000 to $30,000.

13. 2024

    A size 10.5 pair sells for $20,400 at a two-day collection sale in Toronto (May 31 to June 1).

The world in 2005

• Jan 20, 2005

  George W. Bush begins his second term as president.

• Feb 6, 2005

  The New England Patriots win Super Bowl XXXIX, their second straight title.

• Feb 12, 2005

  Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 'The Gates' opens in Central Park: 7,503 saffron gates, on view through February 27.

• Feb 14, 2005

  YouTube goes online.

• May 19, 2005

  Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith, is released.

• Jun 23, 2005

  Reddit launches.

• Aug 29, 2005

  Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Nike SB Dunk Low 'NYC Pigeon' is number 22 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 (42 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Staple bought pizza for the campers the night before the release and went home expecting a normal drop.
• Buyers left through the back of the store with a police escort to waiting taxis.
• The 2019 Panda Pigeon's outsole is a tribute to the newspaper coverage of the 2005 release.
• The pigeon was Jeff Staple's brand emblem years before the shoe: he founded Staple Pigeon in 1997.
• The Pigeon's embroidered bird reappears on the 2007 'What the Dunk,' a collage of 31 earlier SB Dunks.