The Legendary Lobster Returns

Boston based retailer Concepts has seen ongoing success with seemingly no low points in their partnership with the Oregon native Nike. Whether it’s the three-sneaker pack titled the ‘Grail Collection’ from 2012 or their latest Air Max 1 pack from 2022, the brand has a story to tell and they make sure they tell it memorably within every project. 

Eight years after the initial release of the Nike SB Dunk, in 2008, CNCPTS’ Creative Director Deon Point and sneaker designer Rob Heppler began one of the most iconic SB Dunk collaborations of all time, the CNCPTS x Nike SB Dunk Low ‘Lobster’. 

Marking Nike SBs first collaboration with Concepts featuring a classic red colourway, the shoe featured a tonal red upper with a speckled Lobster shell effect complete with a gingham check around the sock liner reminiscent of a bib as well as a rubber band around the toebox similar to that seen on a Lobster claw.

With the first 25 pairs releasing in an exclusive wooden box with a whole host of accessories including a tee-shirt, shell cracker, butter coloured laces and more with ‘CNCPTS Fishing Co.’ branding, the release reached almost instant grail status.

Quickly followed up a year later, CNCPTS flexed their storytelling ability once again, this time with the ‘Blue Lobster’. While the initial release of the collaboration was a more simple rollout, the second time around the brand went all out. Releasing a number of newspaper articles, residents around the Boston shore area were warned of a deadly, rare, blue-tinted Lobster that was killing humans and their pets.

 

Following the incredible buzz the fake news reports caused, CNCPTS later went on to release a short video confirming the existence of the second edition to the ‘SB Dunk Lobster’ line. Similar to the Red Lobster, the first 200 pairs of the SB Dunk Low ‘Blue Lobster’ were sent in sealed HAZMAT containers with the addition of further accessories. 

Around the time the project was preparing to be rolled out, a fisherman off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island caught a yellow lobster. Said to be roughly 1 in 30 million, the yellow lobsters discovery inspired Nike to create a limited range of around 36 pairs of the Nike SB Dunk Low ‘Yellow Lobster’ which were given exclusively to the team that worked on the previous iterations. 

Following the incredible release of the Blue and Yellow Lobster SB Dunk Lows, CNCPTS wouldn’t go on to release a new colourway until 2018 when they showcased both a purple and green pair of the oceanic inspired sneaker. To create the colourways, CNCPTS took the initial three pairs and blended them - with red and blue creating purple and the blue and yellow becoming green. 

While both colourways were debuted in December of 2018, the Purple Lobster was the first to arrive. Releasing in a special icecube designed box encapsulating a teal Nike SB shoebox, the colourway kept the usual design details seen on the previous releases that fans adored. 

Quickly following up the vibrant purple colourway, CNCPTS and Nike SB released a more toned down green variant of the skate shoe. Similar to it’s earlier cousin, individuals who were able to grab their pair in-store received a special ice box inspired tub that held the SB shoebox within.

However, this wasn’t the first time that a green colourway had been hinted at. In August of 2018, CNCPTS teamed up with Nike Basketball to release a limited edition Kyrie 4 PE, aptly named the ​​Concepts x Nike Kyrie 4 “Green Lobster”. Posting on Instagram that fans would need to meet them at a specific set of basketball courts between 10 AM - 1 PM, the sneaker was made in honour of Kyrie’s love of SB and would act as a hint towards the latter released Green Lobster SB Dunk.

While there were two colourways of the iconic SB Dunk Low created from the original three, there still leaves space for a third and final addition. Until now. 

When mixing red and yellow, you get orange. The next colourway of the Nike SB Dunk Low ‘Lobster’. Initially leaked on Instagram by JF Grails (@jfgrails), the sixth addition to the cult classic lineage could be seen later in 2022. With mockups showcasing the usual details as before with a light speckling around the upper, checkered effect sock liner in conjunction with a blue rubber band around the toebox and matching midsole. 

If the rumours are true, the release will celebrate 14 years of the Nike SB x Concepts ‘Lobster’ lineage and could be a sneaker that sits atop several footwear fans' sneaker of the year list. 

While the release date is rumoured to be around Black Friday, official news and images of the SB Dunk Low are yet to be released so it’s important to remember to take information surrounding the collaboration with a pinch of salt at this time.

For the latest news on the CNCPTS x Nike SB Dunk Low ‘Orange Lobster’, you’re in the right place, Kick Game.