Nike have launched a new hemp-based shoe – just in time for that annual celebration of all things cannabis, 4/20.
Pot-orientated online publication Green Rush Daily reports that the new celadon-hued Nike SB ‘Dunk Low’ is made entirely out of hemp.
On sale worldwide as of tomorrow, the ‘Dunk Lows’ are the latest in a range of weed-themed shoes released by Nike:
Never a brand to shy away from the herbal implications of the date 4/20, it looks like Nike SB will once again be celebrating the stoner holiday with a special release of the Dunk. You’ve seen “Skunk Dunks”, “Hacky Sack” Dunks, and “Cheech and Chong” Dunks in the past, and now it looks like Nike SB may be going with a pretty straightforward “Hemp” Dunk Low for this year’s weed celebration
Adidas – more commonly associated with cannabis (on account of their stoner-bait branding) – are also releasing a new hemp shoe.
Retro hemp trainers (Wikimedia Commons)
Cannabis-based-fashion is inching closer and closer to the mainstream. Nikes of 4/20s past may have traded on stoner cliches, but the relatively tastefully named ‘Dunk Lows’ represent movement towards maturity, and, dare I say it, aesthetically palatable hemp-based footwear.
The new, post-cheech-and-chong, generations of stoners, are perfectly happy to watch weed merge with the mainstream. Put off by Stoner Culture’s slightly grungier aspects, the corporate world too has set about rebranding pot, scrubbing away everything unsavoury until there’s something left that your cool parents would want to pick up.
Hemp insulation for housing. Now available for your feet. (Wikimedia Commons)
For the long-suffering, shy-stoners, this is a welcome development. The primary targets of these shoes may be those louder-and-prouder canna-advocates, but it marks the emergence of a new ‘sanitary-stoner’ brand – lifestyle products that won’t attract the stink-eye from your neighbours.
With corporate interest in the lucrative ‘green-dollar’ only continuing to grow and grow, I anticipate high-end-hemp-everything within the next few years. We may well look stylish yet.
Words by Calum Armstrong tweets @vf_calum