Unlock the Secret Power Moves Behind These 13 Iconic Nike Dunks Everyone’s Sleeping On!

I’ve been thinking a lot about (and noticing a lot of) sneakers that were über-popular, faded out, and can now be slowly reintroduced without feeling like you’re either leaning into the hype cycle or just missed it. It’s a touchy time, to be sure, but for the Nike Dunk Lows in black and white, we think the time is just right.

Dunks became so popular because the colors matched their sports teams, and though you certainly don’t need to match anything in particular, Dunks are still the kind of shoes easy to do up in a color. White, gray, and navy has more life to it than a plain white or gray, but it’s just as easy to wear.

Some Nike Dunks marketed toward women (they’re all unisex fits, just some aren’t produced in a full men’s size range) are really where the styles are hidden. The Luxe Low is a little more elevated, with a patent sheen on top of a cool forest green.

If there is anything I give to this world, I hope it is pressure on sneaker brands to make the sneaker shapes we like in winter- and weatherproofed versions. This makes 1) getting dressed less sad and 2) me less sad, because I’m not going to ruin a perfectly good pair of shoes in the rain.

The black-and-white retro highs are great, and they are somehow always cool and never too cool at the same time. For a fresh pair of fall sneakers, these are it.

Native American artists design Nike’s N7 collections, including this one from designer Chelysa Owens-Cyr. The Dunk Lows get a bright-turquoise treatment and a white-out tongue, save for the N7 logo on the top.

Before they were proper skate shoes, skaters loved Dunks anyway. They were super flat, grippy, and comfy. Nike has been making proper skateboarding shoes since 2022, and they’re as good as ever. This periwinkle textured suede is a standout.

All-white high-tops are a very smart footwear investment. And though they can be minimal, they don’t have to be. Case in point: Nike’s SB Dunk High x Antihero, which is all white and off-white but in a smattered mix of suede and leather.

The Dunk Low Retro SE is a no-brainer for style (same as the black-and-white ‘Pandas’ above), but this pick is just because of the color. The orangey red-into-yellow swoosh and sole, the off-white upper, and the navy ankle is just a colorway that received no hype and deserves all of it.

Perhaps one of the most famous sneaker drops during a time when sneaker collaborations were legit everywhere (2020, thank you), the Ben & Jerry’s SB Dunk Low was fun, irreverent, and extraordinarily sought-after. You can only get these resale by now—and their going rate is nearly always $1k.

A little puffy, a little distressed, an undone tongue and a broken-up upper—the Air Dunk Jumbos make slight changes to the classic design that make it feel entirely new. The black and olive green make a great combo for fall, and as far as Dunk resale goes, these are in the more reasonable price range.

Because the Nike x Lego Dunk is only available in Big Kid sizes (which, if you have small feet—skip this pair and go right for those), we had to go with the Powerpuff Girl Dunks, which have the same contrast black piping throughout the upper. It’s giving pop-art-old-school-superhero-cartoon, and what other sneaker could even imagine?