Nike SB Dunk Low S.P.O.T. X Lance Mountain

Dress it like a skate shoe, because it is one. First recipe: baggy work trousers or loose jeans with a visible stack over the shoe, a plain hoodie, laces slightly slack. Second: cuffed straight leg denim with a thick sock deliberately showing, plus a heavyweight tee, letting the panel colours sit against a plain leg. It runs generous thanks to SB padding, so go down half a size if you are between. Everyday and all weather within reason, though the padded tongue holds water and takes time to dry. Clean with a brush and mild soap, replace laces rather than fighting stains, and let the ollie zone wear honestly.

Nike's entry into skating had to be negotiated. The brand had spent two decades becoming a status symbol in urban and hip hop dress through the Air Jordan, the Air Force 1 and the Air Max, but skateboarding had its own hierarchy and its own memory. Nike SB's 2005 appropriation of Minor Threat's album art, which drew Ian MacKaye's public criticism and an apology from Nike, is the episode that defined the terms. Releases built around respected skaters and skate institutions were how the line answered it, and it is why an older SB Dunk with a skater's name on it still carries more weight in the culture than a general release ever will.

Skater led designs tend to be practical designs. The SB Dunk Low is the reinforced version of the silhouette, with a thicker tongue and more underfoot cushioning than a standard Dunk because it was built to absorb the landing rather than to imitate a court shoe, and a project attached to a working skater tends to prioritise the parts that fail first. Watch the outer forefoot, the ollie zone, where grip tape shreds material fastest, and the lace loops, which go next. The panelled upper localises damage, so one destroyed panel does not mean a destroyed shoe. Break in is short, the fit is roomier than the standard Dunk, and the shoe is designed to look better slightly beaten than pristine.