Gucci Linking With Detroit V's. Everybody

Gucci is gearing up for Motown. The Italian luxury giant is working with Tommey Walker’s streetwear brand Detroit Vs. Everybody on a new collaboration, WWD has learned.

While the exact nature of the project has not yet been revealed, it is said to be rolling out to stores for an introduction in short order, and early pictures of the collaboration using the slogan “Gucci Vs. Everybody” have started popping up on social media.

The collaboration brings the worlds of luxury and streetwear a little closer together and furthers Gucci’s outreach in Detroit.

According to Detroit Dialogue, a student news website, Antoine Phillips, Gucci’s vice president of brand and cultural engagement, was at Walker’s alma mater, Cass Technical High School, in 2019 to give the school’s fashion design club a $10,000 check and welcome Cass to the brand’s Changemakers program.

Gucci confirmed the collaboration and said it is part of its Changemakers initiative. Proceeds from the special lineup of T-shirts will benefit nonprofit organizations.”

Walker, a Detroit native, started the brand with the hopes of helping to rebuild Detroit’s image, launching the first “Vs. Everybody” collection in 2012.

The formulation hit and proved to be a very flexible brand, most often seen wrought in black T-shirts or hoodies with white lettering.

Rapper Eminem and Shady Records licensed the mantra to use “Shady Vs. Everybody” and the concept has expanded into other areas as well, including “Atlanta Vs. Everybody,” “Everybody Vs. Injustice,” “Everybody Vs. Racism,” “Everybody Vs. COVID-19” and more.

Detroit Vs. Everybody is still relatively small, but it is a very of the moment brand, displaying a pride of place and taking on social justice issues. And the Gucci collaboration could get its message out to a broader audience.