Nike is pausing its plan to release an SB Dunk project designed in collaboration with Los Angeles streetwear brand Born x Raised after its founder, Chris “Spanto” Printup, died in a car accident this week.
“Nike, Inc. mourns the loss of Born x Raised founder Chris ‘Spanto’ Printup,” the brand said in a statement to Complex. “Out of respect for his family, friends, and the Venice community, we are postponing the launch of our collection.”
The language reflects that of an Instagram post that Nike Los Angeles made in tribute to Spanto on Wednesday.
Nike SB retailers were meant to release the Born x Raised SB Dunk on July 20, which was to be followed by a SNKRS app release on July 21.
According to a statement posted by Born x Raised on Instagram, Spanto was in a car accident on June 25 and died at 7:56 a.m. local time on June 28 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was 42.
“He leaves behind his wife Anna and three children, Marilyn, Carter, and David, a sister, three brothers, his mother, step mother, and step father, his beloved grandparents, his family at Born x Raised, his extended native family, the city of Los Angeles that he loved and championed, and an extensive network of true friends,” the brand’s message reads.
Spanto launched Born x Raised in 2013, channeling his LA upbringing through his label’s apparel and iconography. He was a respected peer and dear friend to streetwear industry titans like Chris Gibbs, whose store Union was among the first to carry Born x Raised, and Jerry Lorenzo, who appeared in a recent campaign for a Born x Raised collaboration with Levi’s. Gibbs, Lorenzo, and countless others have shared memories of Spanto on social media in the wake of his death.
Spanto’s regional vision for streetwear focused not only on Los Angeles, but also on his native neighborhood of Venice. In a promotional Nike video for his upcoming SB Dunk, Spanto said that his family had been in the area for over a century.
“When Venice started to change growing up, I was filled with so many different emotions and I had no way to channel them,” he said. “So I used Born x Raised as the conduit to express my thoughts and feelings towards what was happening to the city that I loved so much, that I grew up with.”
He used his sneakers to give back to the neighborhood that raised him. In June, Spanto gifted the entire graduating class at Venice High School with pairs of the Born x Raised Nike SB Dunks.
