Nike launched the Nike SB line in March of 2002 at the start of the rise of the Skateboarding trend. For years in California, the skate culture was very popular and skateboarding shoes and clothes were worn more as casual wear than by actual skateboarders. Nike saw the potential to tapping into this market and thus launched the Nike Skateboarding line. Nike launched their skateboarding lines on the back of the Nike Dunks SB. The Nike Skateboarding Dunks were the same shape and fit as the Nike Dunks, but with several performance changes. First of all, Nike knew that with the wear and tear of the foot, a good cushioning system was needed. Since skateboarding shoes need to have a low center of gravity, the Nike Dunks SBs had Zoom Air insoles. Next, the Nike Dunk SBs had extra padding added to the area around the ankle and to the tongue. The extra padding to the tongue did provide some extra cushioning between the top of the foot and the board, but it was more for cosmetic appearance than anything. Lastly, Nike beefed up the quality of the materials on the Nike Skateboarding Dunks. With double and triple stitching being the standard in the skateboarding shoe industry, Nike made the Dunks SBs much stronger than tradional dunks.
