Battle of the "Gucci" Dunks - RESN? East?... Confused?

I'll never understand why Nike makes moves like this but they are once again releasing two very sought after sneakers at the same time, that basically look.... well.... the same...

1st, here's a look at the 2:

History: The original Gucci colorway was designed back in 2005 when Girl created the Nike SB Dunk Hi that you see above (the only difference is that the edges of the denim were tattered so threads were hanging, like ripped denim). It was supposed to drop with the Tiffany dunk from Diamond, but since Girl also holds footwear company Lakai, they never got clearance for the shoe, hence the non release. Over the past 4-5 years that sample Gucci dunk is one of the most sought after sneakers, period, with only a rumored amount in existence (I've heard between 2 and 25 pairs).

Fast forward to 2009 and the powers that be are finally letting this sneaker see the light of day! SB heads rejoice! ... But Wait... what's this East Dunk that DJ Clark Kent is coming out with!?

East vs West is this faux competition that Nike has set up to get people from both coast to design and "compete" with sneaker designs. This round is DJ Clark Kent on the East and Eddie Cruz (UNDFTD) from the West. (Check out Eddie's, umm... interesting AF1s).

As you can see and read in the pic above there ARE differences, but the person walking by probably won't pick up on them. One that you can't in the 1st pic is the tongue colors and tag, which reads RESN on the SB and Nike East on the regular Dunk. RESN was Girl designer Sam Smyth's graffiti tag back in the day and was the inspiration for the colorway. That's right, apparently Gucci wasn't the inspiration at all, it is those colors for weed (green), fire (red), and resin (black). Interesting eh?

Here is also a close up on the materials and outsole. The one thing that people DO like more about the Clark Kent pair seems to be that gum sole. You can also see the ostrich black and croc red leathers.

As a shoe, I have to say that I do prefer the SB way more simply because of the denim. It adds so much character to the sneaker. On top of that I support that this was the original design for the shoe, even though I was more a fan of this shoe being completely illusive rather than being released.

My one huge gripe though is that the Clark Kent was released, not only at the same time but at all! Part of me is aggravated that he would design such an identical shoe (and he is the biggest sneaker head out, so I'm sure he knows about the origins of the design) and just as much of me is aggravated that Nike not only gave clearence on the shoe but gave to OK to release it basically at the same exact time as the SB! Just don't see the logic there except for making a few extra bucks. (This is kinda how I felt when the Marshal Amps dropped right after the DOOMs even though they arent nearly as close in design)

I know that was a lot to read, but I also know that a ton of people are confused; I see it with both employees and customers at NikeTown since the Clark Kents have released. So I thought it would be good to clear the air and also get the history out since it is quite an interesting one.

I also wanted to know what YOU think about all of this? Which do you think are nicer? Should both be dropping? Did you even make it this far in the post?


The Clark Kent East Dunks are out now at NSW and Niketown on our NSW floor in really limited quantity, while the RESN SB Dunk is set to release in November and will be more limited, hyped, and resold.


-john-