A colourway noted for its individuality as well as its rarity. The Paris SBs have long ranked up among the illest of grails. Done to commemorate the “‘White Dunk: Evolution of an Icon’” art exhibition in Paris, only 202 were initially slated for release that year of 2003. However, as with most limited (and in this case extremely limited) releases, the demand far outgrew the supply. Hype for these precious kicks was so great that they had to rethink the sale of these kicks especially at the exhibition.
Hence, the 202 pairs were distributed among select retailers in Paris and like bees to honey, the sneakerheads followed the trail. Hundreds queued for days in the blistering European cold for the Paris but only 202 could have them.
The artwork on the paneling of the sneakers were done by one Bernard Buffet, an artist whose works are both bizarre yet strangely captivating. He designed the Paris as such that no one pair, in fact no one shoe , had the same pattern on its panels hence making each pair a unique “1 of 1″ in that sense.
6 years have passed since that memorable Parisian afternoon, but the yearnings for the Paris SBs have not waned one bit. Prices have escalated much since as the years go by, with pairs going up to 4500 USD, thus proving that sneakers, like fine wine, age well as they grow older and older. A true grail indeed.
Pictures courtesy of Flight Club NY.
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