SoleGRIND
| 👟 Sneaker Release Info | |
|---|---|
| Brand | Nike |
| Model | Nike SB Dunk Low |
| Colorway | Panda Pigeon |
| Style Code | BV1310-013 |
| Release Date | January 15, 2019 |
| Retail Price | $100 |
| Available At | SNKRS App, StockX |
The Staple Pigeon Nike SB Dunk is one of those shoes that carries real history. Back in 2005, Jeff Staple dropped the original Pigeon Dunk and it literally caused a riot outside the Nike SB release event in New York. People lined up for blocks. Police had to shut it down. Shoes flipped for thousands of dollars on the aftermarket before the day was over. It was one of the events that put sneaker culture on the map as something bigger than just collecting shoes.
Fast forward to January 2019 and Staple is back with the Nike SB Dunk Low “Panda Pigeon.” The story of how this shoe even came to exist is wild. Staple was moving offices and found an old sample from the original Pigeon project. It had test colors, black and white and green, that he jokingly called a Panda on Instagram. The internet went crazy. People started begging for it to become a real release. And Staple, who initially was not planning on doing another Pigeon Dunk, listened.
The Panda Pigeon (style code BV1310-013, colorway Black/Green Gusto-White) dropped on January 15, 2019, through Nike SNKRS for $100. The design pulls from both the 2005 original and the Chinese cultural connection that Staple wanted to honor. The upper uses a black and white color blocking scheme that gives it the Panda name. The inner Swoosh is the OG pigeon gray, matching the leather from the 2005 release. The outer Swoosh is clean white.
Here is what makes this shoe special beyond the colorway. For the first time in a Pigeon Dunk, there is no pink pigeon embroidered on the heel. Instead, Staple swapped in bamboo green accents. The insole features a green colorway with a bamboo graphic print. The lining reads “STAPLE / NOT FOR RESELL” where the “SAMPLE” stamp from early test pairs was customized to say “STAPLE.” That is a deep cut detail that only real sneakerheads would catch.
The outsole is where the storytelling gets really good. Staple took the original newspaper clippings from the 2005 release, the ones that documented the riot and chaos outside his store, and collaged them inside a clear translucent outsole. You can literally read the news coverage of the original Pigeon Dunk release embedded in the sole of the Panda Pigeon. That is next level attention to heritage.
The release was not just a quick SNKRS drop. Staple did a global launch tour that started in China, honoring his Chinese roots and the panda connection, and ended in New York, the city that birthed the original Pigeon. Shanghai and Chengdu got the first pairs. Then it hit select skate shops globally. Extra Butter had an exclusive wood box edition. StaplePigeon.com had pairs online.
Staple himself called it the people’s champ shoe. In an interview with Nike SNKRS he said if the community had not asked for it, it would not have happened. That rejected sample was 80 percent there already, but it took the voice of sneakerheads around the world to turn it from an Instagram joke into a real release. I think that origin story makes the shoe more meaningful than a typical collab drop.
At $100 retail the Panda Pigeon was one of the best value propositions in sneaker releases that year. Of course it sold through instantly. Resale on StockX sits around $777 with last sales hitting $900. Not bad for a shoe that started as an office cleaning discovery and an Instagram caption. The Panda Pigeon proved that sometimes the best releases are the ones nobody planned. They just come from a designer being real online and a community being loud enough to make it happen.
