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For one day, the Detroit Pistons are offering a new retail collection made in collaboration with the Malcolm X estate to pay homage to the civil rights activist, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year. This marks the first time the estate has worked with a professional sports franchise.
The team announced the collaboration Monday, and the items will be available for sale online and in-person at the team’s store at Little Caesars Arena on Friday. The Pistons, playing the Philadelphia 76ers, are celebrating HBCU/NPHC Night, a celebration of historically Black colleges and universities and the National Pan-Hellenic Council, which oversees the Divine Nine historically Black fraternities and sororities.
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The Malcolm X estate remains very deliberate on where to use his likeness, saying that it’s not overtly chasing sports partnerships. “It’s really more about going where we’re welcome,” a representative of the estate, who asked not to be identified by name, said in a phone interview. “Malcolm is, for many reasons, a very polarizing figure, and so the Pistons were the first major sports organization that felt like they could and should align with Malcolm. They saw that Malcolm story could be told in a really cool way this year. It just made sense.”
Detroit artist Wesley Taylor designed the collection, which includes two sweatshirts and two T-shirts from local clothier DETail Threads, along with a cap from Mitchell & Ness. The capsule highlights Malcolm’s “Detroit Red” moniker, representing the dark but pivotal early years of his life when he engaged in criminal activities.
Financial details of the arrangement between both sides were not disclosed. However, in terms of metrics of success, the Pistons are looking at this capsule differently than its typical merchandise, according to Bilal Saeed, the Pistons’ vice president of brand & marketing strategy. He believes the Pistons have a growing global brand because of how the team tries to export Detroit’s culture and history.
“Obviously New York and LA, they carry such deep history and large market sizes,”…
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Author : Sportico
Publish date : 2025-02-07 16:44:00
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