Gucci, Detroit Vs. Everybody team up to create limited-edition T-shirt

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Darlene A. White

Special to The Detroit News

Italian luxury brand Gucci and Detroit-based clothing line Detroit Vs. Everybody have teamed up for a limited-edition T-shirt collaboration.

The limited-edition T-shirt has been revamped to celebrate Gucci Changemakers. The T-shirts retail for $390 and each of Gucci’s flagship boutiques in 11 U.S. Changemakers cities will carry that city’s name. T-shirts are available beginning Monday at Gucci.com.

“My partnership with Gucci is a dream come true, not just for me and my team, but also for celebrating the city of Detroit’s cultural richness and innovation,” says Detroit Vs. Everybody founder Tommey Walker.

And to honor Walker’s hometown, Gucci also released a special-edition Gucci vs. Everybody T-shirt, joining the creative identities together, available exclusively at the Gucci store at Troy Somerset Collection.

“I’m really proud of the collab and even more humbled that the project supports change-making philanthropy at the grassroots level, where it is needed the most,” Walker says.

The new collaboration with Gucci is geared toward “Everybody.”

“We seek inclusion, rather than exclusion; and unity, rather than divisiveness,” Walker says.

The Gucci Changemakers North America Impact Fund is a social impact initiative focused on increasing inclusion and diversity within the fashion industry and across communities and cities. In addition to Detroit, the 11 U.S. focus cities include Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Gucci Changemakers provides donations to nonprofits within the 11 cities that support social change and help to build strong connections and opportunities within communities of color.

The blueprint with the Italian fashion brand began almost two years ago, when Walker spoke to his alma mater, Cass Technical High School, at an event hosted by the leadership team of Gucci North America in 2019. Walker met Antoine Phillips, vice president of Brand and Culture Engagement for Gucci, at an event in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit. Gucci was in town to launch Black to Techno, a movie about the history of Techno Music, which originated in Detroit. That moment led Phillips and Walker to the collaboration.

Walker says the pandemic created challenges getting the collaboration off the ground.

“Thankfully we all adapted to get things done,” he said. “We just wished to spend more time with Gucci’s team in person.”

Walker says Detroit is the best place to market the new collaboration compared to other cities.

“Detroit stands out,” Walker says. “Detroit has had its ups and downs, Detroit has become a universally inspirational metaphor which resonates for any underdog anywhere in the world that becomes top dog by marshalling the power of unity, whether a person, a team, a city, business, or a movement.”

Before Detroit vs. Everybody, Walker spent years creating album artwork and business cards for local talent, leading creative campaigns for artists signed under major record labels like Def Jam Recordings and Interscope Records. Walker also managed a screen-printing business out of the Russell Industrial Center with his business partners.

Walker says as he watched television while preparing for a trip to California, he caught news coverage about the corruption scandal involving former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. He said he was fed up with how Detroit was being portrayed during that time and wanted to rebuild the city’s image. In 2012, he founded his company VS. Everybody.

A simple concept with a powerful message is all it took for Walker to be the first to inspire his city with the “Vs Everybody” message.

“My mission is to awaken the spirit of Detroit living in Everybody – to inspire everybody to persist, rather than quit,” he said.

Walker also hopes the collaboration with Gucci will put an end to knock-off designer brands.

“We hope that from the collaboration, consumers will realize that the only places to buy our authentic gear, which is designed and produced in Detroit, are at our flagship store in Detroit, on our website, and through a very limited number of highly select specialty store partners,” he says. “This is because whatever proceeds wind up in the hands of counterfeiters are not deployed by DVE and its social impact partners to make change.”

This collaboration with Gucci was meant to be, says Walker.

“We’ve been cause driven since we started our brand in 2012, long before it became a ‘thing’ for corporate America,” he said. “Social impact is in our DNA.”

Gucci Vs. Everybody: The Changemakers Collaboration Launches

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Gucci and Tommey Walker are changing together — and for the benefit of everybody.

The Italian luxury brand linked with Walker’s Detroit Vs. Everybody for a Gucci Changemakers collaboration. The initiative, which WWD first reported last month, will help support nonprofit groups and expands on Gucci’s social efforts.

Detroit Vs. Everybody is known for its hometown pride, social consciousness and bold T shirts that have been worn by everyone from rapper Eminem to politicians, declaring, “Shady Vs. Everybody,” “Everybody Vs. Injustice,” “Everybody Vs. Racism,” “Everybody Vs. COVID-19” and more.

The lineup of $390 T shirts, made with Gucci’s fabric and raw materials and featuring Walker’s Vs. Everybody graphic, goes on sale today at Gucci flagships in its 11 designated Changemaker cities in the U.S. and on gucci.com.

There will also be a release of special-edition Gucci Vs. Everybody shirts available exclusively in Detroit at the Troy Somerset Collection Gucci store.

This is the first time Gucci has sold product under the Changemakers umbrella.

The effort expands Walker’s mantra geographically adding Los Angeles Vs. Everybody, Miami Vs. Everybody, New York Vs. Everybody and more for a limited run with Gucci. The call outs go to the cities where the Gucci Changemakers program donates to nonprofit groups supporting social change and seeking to build connections and opportunities within communities of color.

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Gucci called the Vs. Everybody logo “a simple concept with a powerful message” that “embodies the fiercely independent and unapologetic spirit of Detroit.”

“It is this resiliency that has allowed the city to resurrect and revitalize itself while breaking cultural and social barriers along the way,” the brand said in a statement. “It is this creative spirit and vision that has deeply resonated with Gucci.”

Walker added the partnership was “a dream come true,” lauded Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele as a “creative genius,” and said, “Detroit Vs. Everybody and Gucci share the same unifying ethos, to bring people together for a greater good and to transform a feeling into a cultural moment.”

Walker told WWD: “Our platform exists to awaken the spirit of Detroit living in everybody — to inspire everybody to persist, rather than quit; to contribute, rather than complain; to unify, rather than divide, and to innovate, rather than duplicate.”

The Gucci collaboration shines a bright spotlight on Detroit Vs. Everybody and Walker plans to make the most of it.

“The Gucci Vs. Everybody project will enable Detroit Vs. Everybody to accelerate our plans to inspire changemaking momentum in communities throughout key U.S. cities and throughout the world,” he said.

“My mission on earth has always been to inspire others to dream by showing them that dreams can be realized even when ‘everybody’ says they can’t,” he said. “I am so excited that by living my dream, I will hopefully inspire everybody everywhere to realize theirs.”

Walker owns the “Detroit Vs. Everybody,” “Vs. Everybody” and “Everybody Vs.” trademarks throughout the world, but is fending off counterfeits trying to get in on a good idea.

“We hope that from the collaboration, consumers will realize that the only places to buy our authentic gear (which is designed and produced in Detroit) are at our flagship store in Detroit, on our website, and through a very limited number of highly select specialty store partners,” Walker said. “This is because whatever proceeds winding up in the hands of counterfeiters, are not deployed by DVE and its social impact partners to make change.”

The brand is unusual in that it has both a steady base and the ability to lay new foundations easily, adopting new cities or offering its own spin on new events.

“We are fortunate to have a tremendously flexible platform with our DNA which reflects the Spirit of Detroit,” Walker said. “This allows us to flex across and among apparel, accessories, the arts, athletics, and moments in culture. It also allows us to seamlessly connect the street with the C-suite, the past with the present, and the local to the world.”

And while the brand’s core seems oppositional with the Vs. hook, Walker focuses instead on the other — “Everybody.”

“There is nothing more inclusive and nothing more powerful than the concept of ‘everybody,’ and the power of unity,” he said. “While the Vs. is seen as negative by some, it is paradoxically a positive concept when paired with ‘everybody’ where there is no room for destructive divisiveness. The concept of ‘everybody” bridges cultures, races, religions, economic and ‘social’ standing. The cause is the common denominator uniting us all.”

To support the project, Gucci teamed with a Detroit production house to make a “video anthem” highlighting Walker and his brand and featuring other locals, such as mural artist Bakpak Durden. Walker will also be featured in conversation with activist and educator Brittany Packnett on a Gucci podcast.

Detroit Vs Everybody and Gucci Collaborate on New T-Shirts

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Tommey Walker — the founder of Detroit Vs Everybody, a clothing brand that champions hometown pride and the resilience of Detroiters —has teamed up with luxury fashion brand Gucci on a new T-shirt line that celebrates “changemaker” cities across the country.

“My partnership with Gucci is a dream come true, not just for me and my team, but also for celebrating the city of Detroit’s cultural richness and innovation,” says Walker in a press release. “I’ve long admired the creative genius that is [Gucci designer] Alessandro Michele and am honored and humbled that Gucci respects my work. Detroit Vs Everybody and Gucci share the same unifying ethos, to bring people together for a greater good and to transform a feeling into a cultural moment.”

The collaboration is part of the Gucci Changemakers social impact initiative. Launched in 2019, the initiative focuses on inclusion and diversity in the fashion industry and across communities through partnerships in its 11 U.S. Changemaker cities — Detroit, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

The line with Walker is the initiative’s first product collaboration. A press release from Gucci says the collection’s Black cotton jersey T-shirts intertwine “Italian craftsmanship and Detroit’s industrialist savoir-faire.” The shirts are made of Gucci’s fabric and raw materials. Walker’s iconic “Vs Everybody” graphic is featured on the front of the shirt with a U.S. changemaker city, and the Gucci logo appears on the back.

The tees retail for $390 and are available at Gucci flagship boutiques in the U.S. Changemaker cities and online. In honor of the collaboration with Walker, a special-edition T-shirt that reads “Gucci Vs Everybody” is available at the Gucci store at the Somerset Collection in Troy.

From the collection, a donation will be made to the 2020 and 2021 Gucci Changemakers North America Impact Fund winners. The fund awards grants to nonprofits in the Changemaker cities that are focused on social impact. In 2020, Design Core in Detroit was named an Impact Fund winner, and this year, Detroit tech nonprofit Journi was a winner.

To coincide with the launch of the collection, Gucci partnered with a Detroit production house to create a video that highlights Walker’s story and other locals (watch the video above). Walker will also appear on Gucci’s podcast channel in a conversation with activist and educator Brittany Packnett.

For more information, visit gucci.com.

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