GET FAMILIAR: Costco

Yeah, you read that right.

Costco is getting a Dunk. The same Costco wholesale warehouse where you stock up on bulk buys of toilet paper, Cheerios, and liquor is collaborating with Nike SB on a heather grey sweatsuit Dunk, and to be honest, we’re still kind of scratching our heads about it.

Don’t get us wrong, we love us some dollar fifty dogs and cheap rotisserie chicken, but we’ve got some dots to connect to get from the food court to the skate shop.

What is Costco?

Let’s get a quick history lesson. Costco was founded under the Price Club name in 1976 out of an old airplane hangar in San Diego, California. Originally a wholesale membership club selling to small businesses, the company expanded to non-business members, with a Price Club corporate leader eventually leaving to open the first Costco in Seattle in 1983. 10 years later, Costco and Price Club merged, eventually growing to the massive grocery and household warehouse club we’re all familiar with today.

In 1995, Costco launched Kirkland Signature, a unified brand for all the store’s in-house products. The Costco wholesale model is all about using bulk purchasing power to get better deals for members, and the Kirkland model takes that strategy one step further. Skipping the branded middleman, Kirkland buys bulk from the same producers as the big names, slaps a Kirkland label on it, and hooks up shoppers with even deeper discounts.

WTF is Kirkland??

Like we said in the last section, Costco’s Kirkland Signature products are exactly the same as the name brands. That includes everything from Duracell batteries and Alexander Murray scotch to Jelly Belly jelly beans and Starbucks coffee.

When it comes to the Nike SB connection, though, we’re really here to talk about Kirkland Signature clothing. Kirkland basics, like white T-shirts, plain crewneck sweatshirts, and sweatpants, have been staples of the fashion-forward budget buyer's wardrobe for years. The white T-shirts, in particular, have shown up on GQ and other fashion sites for their combination of high quality and low price. It’s also…kind of a meme.

So Wait, Why is Kirkland Signature Getting a Nike SB Dunk?

The same reason Nardwuar is… cultural impact. As far as connections to skate world, the first thing that comes to mind is a Ryan Sheckler kickflip. The Costco in Mission Viejo, California, has a giant cliff of a drop-off from the street into the store’s parking lot. The gap is so giant that Ryan Sheckler is the only person who’s ever skated it. In 2006, Sheckler ollied the gap, and in 2008, he came back for a kickflip, rolling away with an Atiba Jefferson-shot The Skateboard Mag cover photo and the ender for his part in Plan B’s “Superfuture” video.

The collab is also no doubt a nod to the meme culture and ironic appreciation surrounding the Kirkland Signature brand and Costco in general. Affordable hot dogs, 5 Big Booms from The Costco Guys, and The Rizzler. At some point in the early 2020s, Kirkland realized the niche internet celebrity it had become and started mixing up its blank basics offerings, dropping clothing collections with the Kirkland logo featured proudly. Heather grey sweats and crewneck sweatshirts were some of the first and most hyped logo items to drop in 2021.

As for us, we’re big fans of the plain old Kirkland white Ts. Just make sure you shrink them in the dryer so they don’t fit like a 2003 tall T, please. And if you don’t want to pay for a membership, but you still want to ball out at the food court, check to see if they shock dropped the Dunks in a giant cardboard tub without boxes, and re-up on seconds at every sample stand, just cop yourself a $20 Costco gift card at the grocery store and walk in like you own the place.

Zach Harris

Zach Harris is a writer based in Philadelphia. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vice, Complex, High Times, and more. He is obsessed with skateboarding and bowling. He is still looking for his first 300. For tips, reviews, and anything in size 10.5 - zach.h@soleretriever.com