FLOAT 100 · Sneakers · No. 43
Nike SB Dunk Low 'What The Dunk'
In 2007 a Nike SB designer stitched pieces of 31 earlier Dunks into one deliberately chaotic pair, a shoe some first took for a fake, and accidentally invented the 'What The' formula Nike has reused ever since.
- Year
- 2007
- Maker
- Nike SB
- By price in sneakers
- 21 of 100
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Create a free account- Released
- October 2007, Nike SB gold-box era
- Designer
- James Arizumi, Nike SB footwear designer
- Model
- Nike Dunk Low Pro SB 'What the Dunk,' style code 318403-141
- Colorway
- White / College Blue - Chrome - Deep Red
- Concept
- A patchwork of elements from 31 earlier Nike SB Dunks
- Launched with
- Nike SB's 'Nothing But the Truth' skate video campaign
- How many
- Never disclosed; most estimates say about 300 pairs
- Descendants
- What the Doernbecher, What the Kobe 7, What the LeBron, What the Paul and others
The Dunk to end all Dunks
By 2007 Nike SB was five years old. It had launched in March 2002 with the Dunk Low Pro SB and spent the next years releasing limited collaborations with artists, skate shops and brands, among them Supreme, Futura, Diamond Supply, Staple and Concepts, that drew lines and resale prices out of proportion to their print runs.
The 'What the Dunk' was built as a victory lap. Nike SB calls it the sneaker component of 'Nothing But the Truth,' the brand's full-length skate video campaign, and says it 'was created from 31 separate Nike SB Dunks' with a design goal to be 'the Dunk to end all Dunks.' Nike describes the process as 'painstaking, meticulous, and ridiculous on purpose.'
It released in October 2007 in Nike SB's gold box, with style code 318403-141 and the official colorway White / College Blue - Chrome - Deep Red. Nike SB says that despite the buzz, 'only a limited run was ever offered to the public.'
James Arizumi
The shoe is credited to James Arizumi, who was hired by Nike SB as a footwear designer in 2004. He later left SB to serve as global footwear design director for Nike Golf and Nike Tennis, then returned to SB as creative director.
Arizumi has said he never expected the idea to travel. 'Years later, who would have guessed the concept would be duplicated many times over within Nike and beyond,' he said, in a quote published in auction catalogs for the shoe.
Reading the collage
Every panel quotes an earlier SB Dunk. Descriptions of the shoe point to the elephant print from the Supreme Dunks, the chrome Swoosh from the Diamond Dunks, the embroidered pigeon from Jeff Staple's 2005 Pigeon Dunk, and neon 'Jedi' laces from the Jedi Dunk, along with pieces of the Paris, London and Tweed Dunks.
Another survey of the shoe lists elements from the Supreme, Rayguns, Hemp, Cali, Medicom, Carhartt, Pigeon, Huf, Avengers, Shanghai and Tiffany Dunks. The two shoes of a pair are not mirror images: the neon green lining of the left shoe, for example, comes from a one-off charity Dunk that was never released to the public.
That charity Dunk, of which early Nike SB leader Sandy Bodecker owned one of two intact pairs, finally got a public release on October 27, 2023, as the 'Sandy Bodecker' SB Dunk Low (FD8777-100), at a $110 retail price.
October 2007
The release landed at a strange moment for sneaker culture. The first iPhone had gone on sale in June, and the Dow Jones had closed above 14,000 for the first time in July before a sharp market decline in August. In baseball, Barry Bonds had passed Hank Aaron's home run record, and the Boston Red Sox were weeks from a World Series sweep.
A sneaker news roundup that month said 'much of Nike SB's October releases seem to have been overshadowed by the What The Dunk,' and noted that the shoe had at first been taken for a fake until Nike SB's own film confirmed it was real.
Grail, template and auction lot
Nike has never published production figures. An auction-house feature says 'according to most estimates, just 300 pairs of these collectible sneakers exist,' a number this page treats as an estimate, not a fact.
Pairs now move through auctions. In a September 2020 online sale of eight artist-designed Nikes in New York, a size 11 pair estimated at $6,000 to $8,000 sold for $8,190. A size 12 pair was offered in a 2022 sale marking 20 years of Nike SB with an estimate given only in Hong Kong dollars. In June 2025 a size 10.5 pair was offered without reserve in New York at an estimate of $5,000 to $10,000; its result was not published on the lot page.
Resale asking prices have since climbed well past those auction figures. On October 1, 2026, a resale listing asked $24,270 for a size 11 pair and $26,380 for a size 10. These are asking prices, not sales.
The concept outlived the shoe. Nike has applied the 'What The' collage idea to the What the Doernbecher, the What the Kobe 7, the What the LeBron and, in 2021, the SB Dunk Low 'What the Paul,' among many others.
Identifying a pair
A genuine 2007 pair carries style code 318403-141 on a gold SB box. The two shoes differ from each other, and a pair should show the embroidered pigeon, the chrome Swoosh, the elephant print and the neon laces described above, plus the neon green lining on the left shoe.
Condition matters for a shoe nearly two decades old: auction terms for the shoe warn that sneakers made ten or more years before sale may show signs of age and should not be worn.
The numbers
- Release date
- October 2007
- Style code
- 318403-141
- Colorway
- White / College Blue - Chrome - Deep Red
- Source Dunks
- 31
- Production
- Not disclosed; commonly estimated at about 300 pairs
Timeline
Sandy Bodecker is appointed general manager of Nike SB.
Nike SB officially launches with the Dunk Low Pro SB.
James Arizumi joins Nike SB as a footwear designer.
Jeff Staple's Pigeon Dunk releases; its embroidered bird later appears on the What the Dunk.
The What the Dunk releases alongside Nike SB's 'Nothing But the Truth' campaign.
A size 11 pair sells for $8,190 in an online sale in New York.
Nike SB releases the Dunk Low 'What the Paul,' one of many 'What The' follow-ups.
A size 12 pair is offered in an auction marking 20 years of Nike SB.
The one-off charity Dunk whose lining the What the Dunk borrowed is released to the public as the 'Sandy Bodecker' SB Dunk Low.
A size 10.5 pair is offered without reserve at auction in New York, estimated at $5,000 to $10,000.
Resale listings ask $24,270 for a size 11 pair and $26,380 for a size 10.
The world in 2007
Steve Jobs announces the first iPhone.
Thirty-two people are killed in the Virginia Tech shooting.
The first iPhone goes on sale in the United States.
The Dow Jones closes above 14,000 for the first time.
The I-35W bridge over the Mississippi collapses in Minneapolis, killing 13.
Barry Bonds hits his 756th home run, passing Hank Aaron.
The Boston Red Sox finish a World Series sweep of the Colorado Rockies.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 29, 2020 | $8,190 | Sold at auctionSize 11. Online sale in New York. |
| Oct 1, 2026 | $24,270 | Asking price, not a saleResale listing, size 11. |
| Oct 1, 2026 | $26,380 | Asking price, not a saleResale listing, size 10. |
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 'What The Dunk' is number 21 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 (43 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- When the What the Dunk first surfaced, some collectors assumed it was a fake; Nike SB's own video confirmed it.
- The left and right shoes are different: the left one's neon green lining comes from a charity Dunk the public could not buy until 2023.
- It carries the embroidered pigeon from Jeff Staple's 2005 Pigeon Dunk, the release that drew police to Orchard Street.
- Nike describes the design process as 'ridiculous on purpose.'
- Its designer, James Arizumi, later designed for Nike Golf and Nike Tennis before returning to lead Nike SB creatively.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026