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These are reminiscent of the Court Purple pair I reviewed. These Nike SB Dunk Low Classic Green are also seemingly based on some Air Jordan 1s.
This time, it’s the Celtics 1s from the DMP or Defining Moments Pack from 2009. They keep the same basic overall colorway, rather than combining a couple of Jordan 1 colorways as with the Court Purple.
A J-Pack is a colorway on a Nike shoe that takes after an Air Jordan 1 colorway. Since it’s typically done with a highly recognizable OG colorway of the 1, these may not exactly fall into that category. I’m not sure if the OG colorway is a factor for the J-Pack nomenclature but if it isn’t, then these are definitely J-Packs as the paneling is 1:1 to the Celtics 1s.
Why I Copped these Classic Green SBs
Like many post-pandemic releases, these dropped overseas first and are still slated for a drop in the US as of the recording of this video. I was able to grab a pair. Like usual with the dunks, it’s toss-up between how much I like the shoe vs how much I’m willing to pay. That said, the aftermarket price here doesn’t seem to be too bad compared to some other recent SB releases. I say that in order to point out that while people do seem excited about these, they hype/demand isn’t as strong as other pairs.
Personally I think these are a very solid pair of SBs as far as colorways. Green is one of the trickier color schemes to pull off on a shoe, but the shade they use here works well against the white and black. This is probably what made people start to appreciate Air Jordan 1 Celtic colorway over time. It’s an undeniably nice colorway that works just as well on a Nike SB Dunk Low.
Besides liking the colorway a lot, and liking how they look in general, I was encouraged by the relatively nice quality on the Court Purple pair. They even have the rolled leather around the toebox. Since these seem similar to those, I was hopeful the materials would be at least as good. It was worth the risk since even if the materials turned out to not be good, at least I’d still have this really clean Classic Green colorway on my hands.
It’s too bad it really feels like a risk too, since it would have been nearly impossible to land these at retail. I definitely scrutinize my dunk pickups a bit more these days because of the higher cost of entry. Even on less hype dunks, after taxes, shipping and fees I’m paying at least double retail. If this wasn’t the case and availability was better, I’d be reviewing a lot more colorways!
Details / Materials
Starting off we have the Nike SB logo and Dunk Low Pro in green on a black nylon tongue tag. This all sits on a padded mesh tongue. On the Celtics 1s, the Jumpman is green on the tongue tag and the Air Jordan lettering is white. It would have been cool to get Dunk Low Pro in white to more directly match the Js.
Moving Down we have leather eyelets that lead to a leather toebox and basically the whole upper is leather besides the tongue. We can see that as we move to the side and see the black leather swoosh sitting on top of more leather panels.
On the back we have Nike in black embroidered into the backtab. The insole is black with Zoom Air and the Nike SB logo in green. The outsole is green with a black hit in the middle sporting the Nike SB logo.
These ship with sets of white and green SB laces. Black and green would have matched the lace sets from the DMP 1s better. These come in the purple Nike SB box.
Not a lot included here besides the spare laces, but these are at the $100 retail general release level. Typically spare laces is about all one would get at this stage. What tends to be the wildcard with Nike SB these days at this price point is whether or not the quality will be better than expected.
How is the Quality on the Nike SB Dunk Low Classic Green?
Just like the 1s these seem to be based on, the uppers are entirely smooth leather. Here’s where things get slightly disappointing. The quality is not bad here, but not to the level of the court purple. It’s like the leather, while soft to some degree, doesn’t have the slightly premium look that the courts have.
Don’t get me wrong, the materials here are ok. If I never saw the court purples, I’d probably be feeling more positive about the toebox leather. To be fair, the Celtics 1s have notoriously bad leather as well. This quality is definitely better than that. I can even see some grain or at least some finish that looks like grain on some parts of the shoe.
The craftsmanship seems a little different here too. The shape on the toebox and the shoe overall doesn’t seem as aesthetically pleasing as the courts. Overall though the QC seems around the same. A few paint and glue issues here and there, but relatively par for the course for Nike. Nothing to get too upset about on my pair.
Overall I’m still basically feeling the materials. I’m mostly nitpicking here on the leather. It would have been nice to get something more identical to the Court Purple pair as far as shape and my perceived quality. Busting out the DMP 1s to compare definitely had me feeling better about these.
Fit
The shoe is built for skating so the padding is engineered for that. Because of this I like to go up a half size, which I’ve done here.
The soft leather here does provide a bit more give on the upper which gives me hope. I’d still advise, whatever you normally get in Nikes, go a half size up if you can. I’ve found these days though if you have to get your true size, you can make a pair of dunks work. You just have to be prepared to break them in a bit if you’re only going to wear them casually. Or bust out the shoe widener.
Comfort
The softer leather helps a bit with the comfort on the upper. For casual wear though, you can find a lot comfier uppers than this. There’s an internal seam which contacts my pinky toe on here and makes these a little rough to wear the first few times. Eventually things soften up and they get more comfy.
Underfoot we have the zoom air in the insole and a regular dunk midsole. Just walking around I usually don’t feel the zoom air that much, and these feel close to a regular dunk. The comfort here is average to good. If you’ve ever worn a dunk you will get a very similar experience here.
I find older dunks to be a bit more forgiving than modern SBs, and this translates to a comfier upper. I can wear an older dunk all day in a lot of cases. Until these are broken in though, I’m probably wearing them for a couple hours at a time. I would opt for a different retro for walking around or all day wear. Once I can break these in, I will be able to do them for longer.
At the end of the day, I got these because I thought they looked good, and I kind of expected the fit to have to grow on me over the course of a few wears.
Final Thoughts
Just like many other dunks, these look terrific. The colorway here is so crisp in hand and they really do evoke those old Jordan 1s. I’m always looking out for SBs and other dunks that aren’t going to break the bank. I wish it were easier to get shoes like these, like I’m sure many of you do.
As the SB dunk was the first shoe I ever bought to wear and collect, I am always going to be looking out for new pairs that I’m feeling. For me, a good colorway at a price I’m ok with is about all I need to expand the collection another pair. For me, these were worth it to add to the stacks.
I do like the materials they used on these, however the similar Court Purple SB Dunk Lows did set a bar that these fell short of. Not a bad shoe in this department, but we know Nike can do better.
I expected these to be a bit on the uncomfortable side at first as I was trying to save a few bucks on the size choice. That said, I own a shoe stretcher so I can accelerate the break in process overnight if I’m careful. Most of my issues with SB sizing go away once the shoe is broken in and there’s some space by the pinky toe.
At the end of the day, even if I’m only wearing these a couple hours to break them in, they are gonna look great on feet!
Where To Cop the Nike SB Dunk Low Classic Green
As of the writing of this article, you can find them on eBay
Colorway: Classic Green / Black – White
Style Code: BQ6817 302
Year of Release: 2021
MSRP: $100