COMPLETING THE ALPHANUMERIC SAMPLE DUNK SET

Let’s just do a little brief 411 on these AlphaNumeric (aka A#) Dunk Pro Bs.  These were released in 2001 and officially made it to Complex’s 50 Best Nike Dunks of all time.  For the record, these were never released to public as they were only produced and gifted to employees and team members at the time.  Back then, AlphaNumeric is coined the pioneers of mashing up skate and hiphop into a new niche.  In my opinion these were the godfather of the famous SB lines that dropped in 2002.

Now one may ask what’s so special about them?  Aside from being rare and expensive and the special embroidery on the side, these look exactly the same as general release pairs that were released during the same time frame.  The answer to that highly depends on WHO you ask.  As a relatively new sneakerhead into the game, you probably don’t give a fuck about these because there’s no way on earth you’re paying 4 figures for a pair of dunks where you can easily get the same GR pair for $100.  However, if you ask a collector and old snearkerhead like me…I would have a differing opinion.

What differentiates a new vs. old sneakerhead is the appreciation of certain shoes because of the story behind them rather than the price tag on them.  To keep it simple, owning a pair of these makes me feel like i own a piece of Nike history that defined the culture over the years.  To me, that is priceless.  Of course, I wouldn’t go out of my way and pay whatever sky high prices people are selling them at, but at a reasonable price I feel like if i pass up on such an opportunity, I don’t know when I would ever come across a pair again.

So how did i land this set?  My buddy in Japan first came across the 3M pair of the alpha numerics about 1 month ago.  He asked me if i wanted them and i’m like if the price is reasonable, i’ll snatch them.  I ended up snatching them for a decent price…a little more than i wanted to, but given that they were DS i knew i was in for a premium.  Then i’m like maybe i should try to find the lightning version of these to complete the set.  I tried searching high and low and i finally ended up finding a pair on eBay 1 week later.  He listed them at 3k, but after several exchanges of messages and negotiation we came to a deal.

So after dropping a couple Gs on 2 pairs of shoes, what do i achieve from this?  Well for the most part, as a sneakerhead I REALLY enjoy the process of hunting down shoes.  The harder it is, the more and more I want them.  Because of this process…I build a lot of friendship and connected with like minded sneakerheads that at the end of the day the experience is much greater than the money involved.