Like Birdman, Jeff Staple knows a lot about cash money. The streetwear vet has managed to build his brand strong enough to get the attention everyone from Nike to energy drink companies, and he's doing it by using one design: The Pigeon.
Yup, the official bird of the NYC streets, the one Staple made into a dunk has become one of the most recognizable colorways in the cool-guy world. Some say it's merely a copy and paste, but hey the kids are buying the shit out of the Staple x [Insert Brand Here] products. With the latest collabo, a 5-panel hat with Kangol, hitting the Internets late last week, we take a look back at all the collabos Staple's pet pigeon has shat on...
NIKE SB PIGEON DUNK LOW PRO
RELEASE: MARCH 2005
• The design that spawned everything else on this list. 150 pairs of the SB Dunk were released in NYC, causing riots among sneaker heads. Arrests were made, and the release made the front cover of the post.
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NIKE SB PIGEON SOCKS
RELEASE: JUNE, 2007
• Most blogs wrote "if you missed out on the pigeon dunks, these will make up for it." No, they won't. They're just socks worth nothing compared to a pair of $2000 sneakers people almost got shanked for.
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LOMO x STAPLE COLORSPLASH CAMERA
RELEASE: JUNE, 2008
• Oh, awesome! Now you could take pics of your pigeon sneakers with your pigeon camera.
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NEW ERA FITTED
RELEASE: AUGUST, 2008
• Not much of a shocker here, but it might have been a bit more on time if the hat dropped around the same time that dunks did.
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NEW BALANCE 575
RELEASE: AUGUST, 2008
• Before Converse hooked up with Staple and after Nike did, New Balance released this collabo with Staple on a 575. Insiders say the Converse make-up actually used scraps left over from this shoe. We keed.
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CONVERSE SEASTAR
RELEASE: FEBRUARY, 2009
• Converse got at Jeff Staple for its boat shoe make-up the "Sea Star Hi." Jeff complained on his twitter about the coordination of the global launch of the shoe, but we're thinking he forgot about how bad it went once the checks started to roll in.
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AMP ENERGY DRINK PIGEON FRIDGE
RELEASE: APRIL, 2009
• Not an official collabo, yet...AMP Energy Drink produced this pigeon camo-splatter fridge and sent it to the Staple office a couple months ago. Cranking out pigeon designs takes energy, sometimes you need a place to stock the Red Bull.
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KANGOL 5-PANEL SAFARI HAT
RELEASE: JULY, 2009
• Once you do the fitted, you have to do the 5-panel too right? Just last week, this Kangol x Staple 5-panel safari cap released.
superdae July 20th, 2009 at 03:34 PM
this just shows how limited in vision and scoop brands are when thinking of collabs. the same 10 people all up on the beast world yawn
staze July 20th, 2009 at 03:44 PM
Talk about laziness in design. It's not as bad as Hiroshi Fujiwara slapping two lightening bolts on product and selling it for $500.
Lucas Lu Kayne July 20th, 2009 at 06:44 PM
if it's that easy 2 trade mark 2 get a few million i say make it happen y the hell not sum ppl hate cuz they aint think of it 1st... i wish i did l.o.l.
Chris July 20th, 2009 at 09:06 PM
why do all of the descriptions of the products seem so negative and hateful? enjoyed the product history but not the comments.
Johnny Cage July 20th, 2009 at 11:29 PM
Jeff Staple is an idiot.The pigeon should have ended with the infamous dunk, but instead he milked the pigeon and now all of us are sick of it.Please stop with these stupid ass pigeon collabs.
M-EZ July 21st, 2009 at 04:33 PM
You're in an idiot dude. These corporations have been making money off of our lifestyle, culture and artforms for years. You gotta applaud a dude that makes it big and comes from this. Jeff has been supporting streetwear from day one, even now that its getting tacky. Makin' the dollars make sense is a must you fucking moron. Btw, all this pigeon shit is tacky. drop a new logo Jeff, asap.
B July 21st, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Actually the New Era pigeon fitted dropped a few years before 2008. 2008 was just the re-up of the original colorway as well as a few new colors set to coincide with the New Balance release.
siez August 18th, 2010 at 02:17 AM
to me it's about the colours