6 colorways of the Nike Dunk Low Retro SE on SoleBook.
The Nike Dunk Low traces back to 1985, when it launched as a college basketball shoe, its color-blocked panels built to match university uniforms. It never gained lasting traction on court, but skaters in the late '90s and early 2000s adopted it for the flat, grippy platform and padded collar, cementing the Dunk as a skate and streetwear staple well before "retro" branding existed. The SkateBoarding division's SB Dunk pushed the silhouette into cult status through limited collaborations, while the standard Dunk Low quietly cycled in and out of shelves. The Dunk Low Retro SE tag reflects Nike's modern approach to reissuing this heritage build with slight updates — special materials, textured overlays, or mixed leather and suede not found on the original runs. Since the Dunk's massive resurgence around 2020, driven by both nostalgia and a wave of new collectors, Nike has used the Retro SE designation to differentiate premium or storytelling-driven releases from standard general-release colorways. These pairs often lean into design details like stitched Swooshes, tonal branding, or unexpected textile choices, giving longtime Dunk heads something beyond the classic leather-and-mesh formula while keeping the shoe's low-profile, basketball-rooted silhouette intact.