On Tuesday night, Jeff Staple set off what should have been harmless fun mixed in with a publicity stunt by tossing a pair of his historic Nike SB Dunk Low “Pigeon” onto a traffic light outside of his store in Lower Manhattan. But not long after a fan Jerry-rigged a tool to get the sneakers down, social media was ablaze with accusations that the designer had given away a pair of fakes, as well as criticism deriding him as a one-trick pony.
The sneaker at the center of the controversy is universally considered a landmark in sneaker history. When the “Pigeon” Dunk released in 2005, the crowd that gathered descended into a riot that landed on the front page of the New York Post. For sneakerheads, it was a high point in hype. And for the ingenuous wider public, it was one of the first signs of just how big sneaker culture would become.
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Such displays aren’t as much of a novelty 20 years later, although they are less common because most high-profile releases employ drawing systems in part in the name of safety. Just last week, police had to shut down the release of a new all-black colorway of Pharrell’s Adidas Jellyfish, which was named by Footwear News as “Sneaker of the Year” at the FN Achievement Awards, because of the size of the crowd that lined the street.
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Staple has returned to the “Pigeon” concept numerous times in the intervening years, both with Nike for subsequent releases and in his ventures with other brands including Puma and Crocs. But none have achieved the same heights as the original sneaker, the most recent sale of which on StockX went for $38,000.
A free pair hanging above a New York City street presented either a rare opportunity to obtain a grail or an item to flip with a lottery-level payout. Eugene Wei, the person who retrieved the sneakers, appeared to take the former view, as he told his history as a fan of Staple’s and showed how he taped together several long poles and stood atop a latter in the middle of the street in a series of Instagram posts.
After Wei posted photos of his bounty in-hand, scrupulous observers noticed a few details were off. The Nike SB logo wasn’t used on the tongue 20 years ago but appeared on the spot in the pair given out by Staple. The shape of the heel’s outsole was also different, while the sticker on the insole didn’t hold up to scrutiny.
Staple gave a noncommittal response in an Instagram comment for a post outlining the suspicions. Rather than confirming or denying, he got philosophical, which many took as a de-facto admission.
“I wanted to ask, does it matter which factory a sneaker came out of?” he wrote. “Or which distribution center it went thru? Or is it the story around the shoe that really matters? I would argue for this dude who went on this mission…this shoe is maybe worth more to him than any other pair in existence now. That’s what this culture is really all about maybe?”
The dude who went on the mission has since made his Instagram account private, suggesting he’d like to extricate himself from the conversation. Those who continued to discuss the situation took it in several directions.
Some simply thought giving away a fake shoe was corny. Others speculated that an official retro release is forthcoming, which would explain the discrepancies. And then there were some who, if willing to grant that the sneakers were real and from a future launch, scorned Staple nonetheless for continuing to fixate on a 20-year-old success much like a former high-school quarterback dwelling on his glory days.
The prospect of Staple reuniting with Nike is complicated by another bootleg controversy from his past. He actively participated in the production of a close lookalike to his “Pigeon” Dunk with Warren Lotas. Nike sued Lotas for his productions, which were nearly identical save for a Swoosh altered to incorporate the Jason Voorhees mask. A confidential settlement was eventually reached with Lotas being barred from infringing upon Nike trademarks again.
Whatever the truth behind Staple’s stunt ultimately is, the backlash demonstrates how passionately people feel about fake sneakers and the fine line that must be walked in indulging nostalgia.
Undefeated brought back its own 20-year-old icon earlier this year, a bomber jacket inspired Air Jordan 4 that was the very first Air Jordan collaboration. Most rejoiced over the opportunity to purchase a shoe released with just 72 pairs in 2005, but underneath the excitement was also a small contingent arguing to let the past lie and move onto newer ideas.