The highlight of Beyond Store's 20th anniversary is the first-ever Nordic store Nike SB collaboration sneaker: the Beyond Store & Nike SB Dunk Hi inspired by the work of Alvar Aalto.

Shoe is now available in Beyond Jyväskylä. The Helsinki instore release will be held on Saturday, July 11th, in Beyond Helsinki at 10:00. More details about online release coming soon. The global rollout is later this month.

Sizes US 6-14 I 140 €.

The globally released Beyond Dunk is a tribute to Alvar Aalto, a pioneer modernist architect and designer who shares an unexpected connection with the origins of modern skateboarding.

Jyväskylä, the hometown of both Beyond and Aalto, is renowned for its numerous Aalto-designed buildings. The surrounding Finnish nature has been a vital source of inspiration for Aalto’s design work. The sneaker, which references Aalto’s architectural details, has been approved by the Alvar Aalto Foundation.

The birth of modern skateboarding can be traced back to the first documented freeform pool at Villa Mairea, Finland (1939), designed by Alvar Aalto. In this pool, curved lines replaced traditional rectangular shapes. American architect Thomas Church visited Aalto’s Villa Mairea and its pool in 1943. Church’s design for the Donnell Garden (1948) turned freeform pools into a Californian status symbol. Skateboarding, as we know it, was born when drought conditions emptied these Californian pools in the mid-1970s, revealing the rideable curves and lines to skateboarders. Thanks to Alvar Aalto’s organic approach to form, skaters discovered an entirely new way to ride in the curves revealed by the emptied pools—creating "lines that never end."

Beyond’s founder and CEO Juho Haapala notes that the "lines that never end" also speak to the free flow of ideas: "Skateboarding, music, and all forms of creativity are born from inspiration. It’s a remarkable, unexpected turn that Aalto designed the Villa Mairea pool—perhaps inspired by the lakeshores of Jyväskylä—only for pool skateboarding to emerge decades later on the other side of the world. Yet, these are all part of the same endless continuum. That is what the Beyond Dunk represents."

The Beyond Dunk embodies Scandinavian functionalism. The sneaker's birch-toned Swoosh nods to Aalto’s iconic furniture. The outsole highlights the rich red brick favored in his building designs. The high-top heel panel reflects the signature blue glazed ceramic tiles seen across Aalto’s most famous sites.

"Honoring Alvar Aalto’s design philosophy, we wanted to create a minimalist sneaker that stays relevant for decades to come. The white sneaker has been at the pinnacle of style for 50 years and will remain there for the next 50." -Juho Haapala

Aalto's endless lines live on in architecture, furniture design, and skateboarding. Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) was a Finnish architect and designer who became one of the most influential figures of 20th-century modernism. His buildings, furniture, and glassware are held in permanent collections from MoMA in New York to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.