Anyone who’s been following skateboarding for the last twenty years knows Eric Koston. The Thailand native is one of the most influential skaters of all time and his track record speaks for itself. He’s been in legendary skate videos like Girl’s Yeah Right, Lakai’s Fully Flared and Supreme’s Cherry. The skills he’s been polishing since ’92 translate well from the movie screen to the street. Eric has won countless skate competitions including 12 X-Games gold metals (in various events: park, best-trick, etc).
Koston’s line in Yeah Right!
Footwear has always been on point for Mr. Koston with signature models from top brands És, Lakai and Nike SB. The most mainstream commercial successes for Eric’s signature shoes have been delivered under the Nike umbrella; though, the És shoes have a devout cult following and were all the rage from 2002-2004. When Eric signed with Nike SB in 2009 he had this to say:
“Not only am I psyched to be a part of the great group of guys that makes up the Nike SB team, but I’m equally as excited to work with them creatively. I’m sure many people know that a lot of different Nike’s have been the inspiration for my shoe designs over the last 12 years, so I feel like a fucking kid in a candy store when it comes to this partnership between Nike and I.”
What has worked so well for Eric’s SB shoes have been their low-key designs (you know, except the Koston 3 Hyperfeel lol). The Koston line flows within the same vein as the Zoom Janoski in all the best ways; they’re approachable to non-skaters (dads, granddads, etc), practical for actual skaters, and look dope to sneakerheads. Out of the gate Nike SB and Koston delivered a hit with the Lunarlon toting ‘SB Eric Koston’ in 2009. Future models like the SB Koston Max (Air Max heel) and Koston 3 Hyperfeel (heavily inspired by soccer boots) would be stellar performance skate shoes, but they lacked lifestyle utility.
We hit you with the brief Koston history lesson to prepare you for the real fuego and the reason why we’re all here today…
Since Nike SB Dunks are riding on a hefty wave of popularity right now we wanted to hit you with a new segment dedicated to Nike SB Dunk-ology… Dunk School!! In our first installment we’re going to take a look at two of my (Robbie) favorite SB Dunks from the Blue Box era (2008-2011), the Koston High and Low Thai Temples from 2010.
It’s not very often one SB Dunk collaborator gets two cuts of Dunks at the same time (as De La Soul, they had to wait over a decade to get a low-top) but Eric Koston did and ended up blessing us with two of the most beautiful dunks of the last decade. I mean, look at them! The lows utilize buttery soft blue suede, white walls, rich red sockliners, smooth gold swooshes and golden-gum outsoles. Sure, a lot of SB Dunks have used these color combinations since, but the Thai Temple Lows just excel in execution. The gold high-tops follow the same game plan as the lows but with more drama. Gold, on gold, on gold! Suede gold, shiny gold, nylon gold. It’s hard to see in pictures but the back heel has a quilted looking print that adds an extra layer of detail to these already complex shoes. For those that don’t know, Thailand is known for their Buddhist Temples that are second to none in beauty; and many of them are literally golden from head to toe (like the high-tops). Thailand’s national flag lends its colors of blue, red and white to the low-top version; so those are the inspirations for this set. Check out some detailed images of the Nike SB Dunk Thai Temples below and tell us online which pair you’d like to own!
Robbie Falchi
Aaron Nojima