i've never been much of a sneakerhead, mostly because i grew up poor and bought all my shit from Walmart, but learning about the history of these shoes basically made them my number one sought after collectors item ever. and honestly kind of got me into sneakers. i think sneakerheads get a bad rap. like i remember one of my middle school science teachers ragged on it because "ohhh they dont use the shoes whats the point" and its like... thats, kind of the point of collecting. like obviously not everything. i collect CDs and i use them a lot. but like the double standard against sneakerheads is kind of nutty. i never hear people say this from gamers who have shelves of games they never play, or plushies you don't play with. like theres things you can criticize about consumerism and over consuption. but i really dont think the 45-year-old guy who likes vintage nikes is contributing to climate change as much as taylor swift sooooo...
but anyways, these three shoes— the 1993 Nike Decades, the 2008 Nike SB Dunk High Pro 'Heaven's Gate' Samples, and the 2009 Nike SB 'Unheaven's Gate' Dunks —have some of the most storied past of any shoes ever. and whether you like cults or sneakers (or both in my case) this story is fascinating. so if any of that sounds interesting, read ahead.
although im not going to really talk about the Heavens Gate cult in depth (as this is mostly about the shoes), i do want to give a major Warning for Suicide. there are photos of the shoes on the members who are dead, and it can be pretty gruesome. so please do read ahead at your own discretion.
the first shoe that I want to talk about is the one that was actually a part of the Heaven's Gate mass suicides, which are the 1993 Nike Decades. each of the cult members wore the exact same thing: black t-shirts and sweats, armbands that said "Heaven's Gate Away Team," and a pair of brand new black-and-white 1993 Nike Decades (which were apparently chosen because they were a good deal). and when the news of this came out, the shoe world went crazy.
nike silently got rid of the shoe line without any press on the matter, probably hoping that it could be quickly swept under the corporate rug, but the infamy of the cult trickled down to the shoes. and in the years since 26 March 1997, the black-and-white Nike Decades have become a sought-after collectors item from both sneakerheads and true crime junkies. but these weren't the only Heaven's Gate related sneakers that would grace Nike's desk.
more than 10 years after the mass suicide from the Heaven's Cult, Nike SB team rider Todd Jordan (who's been a part of other Nike Skateboard collections such as the "Support Your Local" campaign) designed these around the Heaven's Gate cult. which, unfortunately, was the main reason that Nike never released them. they exist, but there are apparently only 24 of them in existence and only in a size 9 (cries in poor and mens size 7). now a lot of people will read that and go "wait caesthoffe !! but ive my hand on a pair of heavens gate shoes and it didn't cost me my house !!!" and i would say, read onto the next shoe.
same inspiration, different colorway
a year after the unfortunate scrapping of a beautiful shoe, enough time had passed apparently for Nike to revisit the Heaven's Gate inspiration. because the 2009 Nike Dunk High SB Un'Heaven's Gate were released not even a year after the scrapping of the 2008 High Pro samples, just with a slightly different colorway (notably a lack of blue inner linning and a warmer-toned purple (see image below))
now, im not shy about my love for the original 2008 sample of these HG-inspired shoes. i absolutely adore them. they're genuinely the most beautiful shoes ive ever seen in my life. and although i do love the actually-released Heaven's Gate shoes, theres a part of me that wished those 2008 samples had been released instead. i just think the colors are more unique, and (although this is pretty morbid) i think the more obvious hints to the cult made the shoe better. because, like, everyone knows that both of these sneakers are inspired by the Heaven's Gate cult. so why even pretend not to be? don't get me wrong, i would trade my left arm for any of these sneakers in a heartbeat. but the size and number limits of the 2008 shoes means ill basically never be able to own them, which sucks. but that's not to throw shade at the Un'Heavens, because i still think they're a gorgeous shoe. and i could actually buy them if i wanted. which is nice.
