Dashawn Jordan Shouts Out His Day Ones For Making His First Nike SB Dunk A Reality

Andrew Rizzo: Can you walk me through the inspiration behind the shoes? You’ve had this design idea in mind for a long time, right?


Dashawn Jordan: I feel like I was wearing the Diamondbacks 2001 World Series championship hat a lot, and I just loved the colorway of that hat. I wanted to use it in some way, shape, or form. Before there was even an idea or a little conversation about me getting a sneaker, I’d already landed on the thought like, “Yo, if I ever did a shoe, I’d want it to be that colorway.”

I’d be on trips talking to team managers and people at Nike like, “Man, I can’t wait. If I ever get the chance to do one, it’d be sick to do something for Arizona.” And I had one of my friends, KB from Korea, help me make this PDF with a bunch of inspirations on it. I’ve been hanging onto that for about five or six years, just waiting for the opportunity to come up.

It’s just something about the black, the teal, the copper, and that silhouette. To me it felt super universal because I’d go places and see people in New York, Chicago, all over with that hat on. It was a staple. It made me proud to be from Arizona because that hat carried so much weight. So when I got the chance to do a shoe and could go any direction with it, it made sense to go home.


Were you into sneakers before you started skating?

I was into sneakers, but I didn’t really have the knowledge or a real passion for collecting early on. As time went on and I started learning what certain shoes were, I developed more of that “I gotta have those” feeling.

When I got on SB, my first box that got sent to me had a royal blue Blazer and then a Team Classic shoe they made. The silhouette was almost like a Janoski, but a little bulkier, with a smaller Swoosh.

I didn’t really learn about Dunks until later. I skated them at the beginning of my career, but in my mind I was like, “They get too bulky, I can’t really feel my board.” Then I had a moment where I was like, “Yo, I want to start skating Dunks again,” because I love the way they look. And from there, Dunks have been the only shoe I’ve skated for the past six years. So I’m super hyped to have a colorway on the shoe that I’m genuinely a big fan of.

Do you still have that PDF?

Yeah, I do. My homie, KB, he’s like a bro in my eyes. He’s like an icon to me, just someone in the cut but super solid. For him to take the time and effort to do that for me, it was a big contribution to the whole process of developing the sneaker. He was hyped to see how it came out too.


Because like I said, there was no talk. We’d just be at lunch like, “Man, when are you gonna get a shoe?” And I’d be like, “I don’t know.” And he took it upon himself like, “Yo, I want to make something for you.” He came back with that, and I held it close to my heart for years.

Sorry dude, my eyes keep going to that New Era hat. That’s sick. How did that come together?

This was done by my homie Vic, one of my best friends, the owner of Kill the Hype. He’s done really good for himself. For me, when I have the opportunity, I want to bring in close friends who I felt were really important to me and in the fashion world. We came up with the idea that we should make a hat for the shoe. We talked concepts, but with stuff like that, I like to be like, “Yo, make it you, with an influence from me.” I wanted it to be authentic to what he felt about the shoe.

He came back with these concepts, like the snakeskin on the brim, which was crazy because we talked about it and we hadn’t really seen a good hat like that since the TI$A days. Everybody was wearing them back then, and I was like, “Bro, let’s do that, but in a fire way.”

I’m putting 25 at my skate shop in Arizona. Other than that, if you’re not getting it from the shop, you’re not going to be able to get it. It’s been crazy because people from his community have been like, “Yo, I’m driving to AZ just to get the hat.” And we haven’t even really announced how we’re doing it yet. So it’s been a blessing to see the cross-collab and merging worlds together for an impact.

What kind of comments have you been getting in the wild, with the shoes and the hat?

I didn’t really have an expectation, but anything I did have has been exceeded. For instance I was in Miami for the Virgil Abloh Invitational at Art Basel. I got into an elevator with a mom and her kid, and she was like, “Those shoes are awesome.” It was just dope to hear from that side.

I’ve been skating and people have been like, “They’re sick.” Homies in the music world, fashion world. I feel like I’ve gotten love from each category. It makes me really happy because it feels like the shoe is transferring outside of just my skate community. People genuinely don’t know me and still think the shoe is cool, and that means a lot.

I don’t know if this is a hot take, but I feel like those kinds of compliments are more special than getting a thumbs up from sneaker guys. Because they’re going into it totally unbiased.

Yeah, for sure. One of my mentors told me when I was younger, “If you get the youth, you get the parents.” You’ll win. And that’s been a big part of my whole thing. I love the youth, and it starts with the parents. If the parents support it and think it’s good energy, they’ll support their kids being part of it. I try to keep everything community-based and positive so parents feel comfortable having their kids represent something. Hopefully a parent sees what I do and just gets good energy from it.

I want to touch on the D-backs era for a second. Do you remember that time at all?

I don’t 100% remember it. I remember moments, seeing clips and stuff, but it didn’t really resonate until I got older and started understanding the importance of that era and the people involved.

Recently, after connecting with the D-backs through everything, I’ve learned more. And I’ve got friends who are more into baseball than I was, so they’ve helped put me on to that time too. Obviously Randy Johnson is an icon in Arizona. I remember always hearing his name, the jerseys, the moments, the bird, all that. Those were things I held onto because that’s as far as my knowledge went. Now I’m learning more and it’s like, dang, we got to go crazy with this.

Randy Johnson might come knocking for these. He’s a big SB Dunk guy.

What’s crazy is, in conversations with the D-backs, one of the guys literally showed me a text from Randy that said, “Size 13 please, lol.” It was from some random Instagram page that posted the sneaker. And I was like, bro, this is the cherry on top because I’d been trying to reach out to him about getting him a pair and he wasn’t responding.


When I saw that text, I was like, he has to be involved in some way. I won’t say too much, but we’ve got some cool stuff coming involving those dudes, and I’m really excited. It’s a blessing to get the opportunity for sure.

Have you tried any of the newer SB performance stuff, like the Air Max 95s, the 4s, Air Force 1s that are coming?

I skated in the 4s, that’s a great shoe. I also skated the Air Max samples earlier on when they were sending them out to the team. Same with Air Force 1s, I’m excited to see what those do. They’ve got a lot planned for that, and I’m stoked to see how the community receives it and to try them more.

All these P-Rod 1 retros have to be exciting too.

I was just with Paul in Denver for a Zumiez event and I was telling him, that shoe is so fire. My girl even says it’s fire because it’s a retro you can throw on with jeans, it’s just a good-looking shoe. So congratulations to Paul for them bringing it back.

You said earlier that your shoe marks a full-circle moment with Nike SB. Can you expand on that?

So this goes back to around 2012 to 2014. I was on a different shoe company at the time, and one of my peers, Steve Clare, was flowing me for a clothing company called KR3W. He used to ask me, “If there’s one shoe brand you’d want to be on, what would it be?” And I kept saying Nike.

He told me he might have a friend who works for Nike and could hit him up. That was Oliver Flores, who’s one of my biggest peers and has been with me since the beginning. Steve connected me with Oliver at a contest in Arizona called Phoenix Am. I remember meeting Oliver at a bar at the hotel Steve was staying at. I had a sleeping bag and I camped on Steve’s floor.

We were talking, probably eating wings, and Oliver was like, “If you’re ready, I’m ready.” And I was like, bro, no brainer. Of course I’m ready. I was skating for Vox at the time, and I was like, man, yes.

He sent me my first box of Nikes, which was the royal blue Blazers and the all-black Team Editions. I remember getting that box and being so happy. It was rep flow at first, just support with no strings attached, and I appreciate him taking a chance on me because it opened the door. I promised him I wouldn’t fumble it.

And it’s crazy because recently he told me he cried, because now he’s in New York and he’s going into shops opening accounts, selling my shoe to stores. Thinking about the whole trajectory, from him taking that chance on me to this, it’s full circle. This shoe is bigger than me. It’s a celebration of where I come from and the whole process of getting here.

That’s an awesome come-up story.

Yeah, it’s still crazy to think about. I remember that first box like it was yesterday. This shoe is bigger than me, and it’s important for people to know those names. If Steve didn’t connect me with Oliver, and if Oliver didn’t take a chance on me, none of this happens. That changed my life. Those guys are family to me.

And now, I’m technically the only one with them still, besides other samples, but I’m excited to see people lined up at the shop, seeing people wear them, all the posts. It’s surreal. It’s been a blessing.


Now that you have one under your belt, are you already thinking about a second one?

Definitely. I hope this does great so I can follow it up and do something else great with the same team. The people around me are a big part of what made this what it is. I would love the opportunity to do more.