Virgil Abloh and Nike’s 50 dunk collection to release in the UAE in August

Virgil Abloh and his brand Off-White are no stranger to Nike’s iconic Dunk silhouette. Now, he’s releasing ‘The 50’, a collection of 50 Off-White x Nike Dunks all releasing this summer.

There’s now a confirmed release date too. Nike has confirmed that ‘The 50’ will release worldwide on August 9.

Nike and Virgil also debuted the entire collection in detail which you can see below: 

Since last Saturday, billboards for the collection have been popping up in different cities across the world. The first ones people have found are in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Milan and Paris, either in the form of just static photos or full video ads.

The question is how this will all work. Will the Nike SNKRS app and select retailers be getting 50 shoes all in one day?

Not so fast. We have a theory.

What do the cities mentioned have in common? They each have an Off-White store. In fact, there are 49 Off-White stores globally, only one off from the 50 number.

It would stand to reason that rather than flood the market with 50 shoes, that each Off-White store would be getting an exclusive dunk from the 50. Perhaps that last 50 would be the single shoe going to Nike’s SNKRS app.

That would mean that Dubai, which has an Off-White store at The Dubai Mall, would also be getting its own dunk.

This wouldn’t be the first Dunk to appear from Dubai. Last year’s Nike SB x FRAME ‘Habibi’ Dunk Store caught the shoe world’s attention globally, and is currently trading for around $1000 per shoe on the resale market according to StockX, despite originally having a retail price of $110.

A Dubai-exclusive dunk from Virgil Abloh would certainly set the shoe world of the UAE ablaze.

Keep an eye on the pages of Esquire Middle East as we work to confirm our theory.

We also spoke to Virgil recently about his creative process. Read the full interview here.