When a black-and-white patent leather Dunk Low leaked earlier this year, the public had no idea it was just the beginning of an outpouring.

Leaning into the unofficial “Panda” nickname for black-and-white Dunks, the still-unreleased sneaker tucks away a cartoonish panda head through an embossed inner-tongue tag. It first surfaced in April, and 11 more unreleased colorways have since surfaced with varying degrees of prominence for the character.

Two of those colorways even appear to be coming via a blind box release dubbed “Panda-monium,” in which the customer doesn’t know what they have until they open the mysterious packaging. Nike does have a modest history in engaging with the practice, but when combined with a cutesy character template repeating with slight variances, it begs the question: is the Swoosh trying to Labubu-fy the Dunk?

Whether as the “It” bag charm or a collectible in its own right, the Chinese series of plush toy monster elves is one of the hottest products in the world. Resellers are cashing in just as they did with sneakers at their most hyped — you can even see sneaker scalpers now hawking Labubus on their social pages — and the proliferation of fakes betrays the frenzy for the little monsters.

Created by the Hong Kong-Belgian designer Kasing Lung, Labubus have exclusively sold by the Chinese retailer Pop Mart. Off the back of Labubu revenue, which hit $423 million in 2024, Pop Mart chief executive officer Wang Ning vaulted into China’s top 10 billionaire list this summer with an estimated net worth of $22.7 billion.

For Nike, the Dunk is on the opposite trajectory. The franchise became as big as the Air Force 1 and Air Jordan 1 combined in 2024, good for $5.85 billion in revenue for Nike in 2024, 18 percent of Nike’s total footwear sales, according to estimates from the investment bank Piper Sandler. The same institution also predicts sales for the Dunk will drop 70 percent over the next two years, ending the host streak that began in 2020.

Part of this is intentional, as new CEO Elliott Hill has announced plans to scale back distribution for all three of the Dunk, Air Force 1 and Air Jordan 1. It’s been no secret that the trio have become oversaturated, and the chief financial officer Matt Friend said the Dunk has been targeted for the “most aggressive actions” in a March earnings call.

In this dialed-down era of the Dunk, the Panda series appears primed for a prominent slot. Twelve total colorways have already leaked in adults’ and kids’ sizes, many of which have been reported for a simultaneous Aug. 1 release date.

No longer just a single colorway, the Panda is now a character with different placements on Dunks in a variety of color schemes and material treatments. Most of the sneakers come with the Panda attached as to the laces as a leather patch, leaving open the possibility for it to be removed and replaced as a bag charm. The inner-tongue tag appearance carries over from the first Panda Dunk leaked, and two apparent grade school exclusives add the bear to the mustache.

A nontrivial part of the appeal for Labubus come from them being sold in blind boxes, giving customers the hope that they’ll open one of the more rare and/or appearing variants. With two Panda Dunks leaked over the weekend with confetti-like embroidery and a black bag appearing to tip off the inclusion of one or the other, Nike looks to be capitalizing on the same phenomenon.

Nike has occasionally dabbled in the practice, most recently with rare “Ruby Red” variants of its “Wizard of Oz” Dunk Low surprising some customers who thought they were unboxing the advertised collaboration. Huf also did a mystery bag for its Dunk Low collaboration in 2022, and those that purchased the Air Jordan 9 “Baseball Glove” in 2019 didn’t know if they’d gotten the black or brown edition until unwrapping.

The question is: Will it work? Can Nike apply the Lalubu formula to revive the Dunk so quickly after it’s been pronounced dead?

Release dates for the first batch of Panda Dunks are just around the corner, and there’s no telling how many more there might be.