These Nikes aren't Dunks but they look a lot like them

 There's little doubt that 2021 will also be marked by an unspecified, but very high, number of Nike Dunk. The Beaverton giant has made its business strategy clear since last year, focusing on the re-edition and release of an endless number of silhouettes, first as part of the collaboration with Off-White™ and Virgil Abloh, then drawing on skate and the sporty past of the shoe, re-proposing the colours of the teams of American colleges. 

All this hype, however, has only one consequence: it has become impossible to get your hands on a Dunk. Both on SNKRS and in retailers where the release is available, the silhouettes are promptly sold out, no matter in what colourway and at what price, only to be found later on StockX and in the various resell groups. It's precisely within these communities that over the last few days have begun to circulate the images of a sneaker which resembles in all respects the latest Nike Dunk released, in the "Black/White" colourway. 

This is not a fake shoe or a bad imitation, but another Nike model, the Ebernon Low, from the Sportswear collection, which is a cheaper version of the model it drew inspiration from. A very frequent common practice carried out not only by Nike, which has always offered dozens of "budget" versions of its most iconic sneakers, from Air Jordan 1 to Air Force 1 but also by all other sneaker brands, from adidas to Reebok up to Vans. It's a very simple and easily successful method to give the non-sneakerhead audience shoes similar to the most famous ones, at a much lower price, and without the effort of having to sign up for twenty raffles, since these shoes are often found in the classics department stores or in outlets.

In addition to the colourway basically identical, except for a small grey insert on one side, as in the version in these images, the Nike Ebernon Low differs for its silhouette, more tapered, for a lower midsole, for the colour of the laces, while the leather insert on the heel is decorated with the Nike logo in the Sportswear version. True, maybe the sneaker lacks a bit of that aura of coolness that seems to surround Dunks today, something that could disappear entirely in a couple of months. For such a price - ranging from €30 to €60 - you can even give it a try, just finish it off with nice styling. The hype is in the eye of the beholder.