For his latest project, Detroit vs. Everybody founder Tommey Walker is traveling back in time to dig deep into Detroit’s archives.
The owner of the popular merchandise brand is launching a pop-up exhibit of his new history-inspired clothing and home decor line, “313 vs. Everybody,” at the Detroit Historical Museum just in time for 313 Day. The pop-up will be on display from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the museum offering free admission Wednesday.
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While items at the exhibit will not be for sale, Walker plans to bring the line to his new flagship store in The District Detroit this spring.
“313 is synonymous with Detroit, so it’s another way of saying Detroit vs. Everybody,” Walker said. “Everyone who loves the Detroit vs. Everybody moniker is also going to fall in love with the ‘313 vs. Everybody’ and they’re going to be happy that they have another piece to add to their collection. They can go and represent their city with pride.”
313 Day is a reference to Detroit’s area code and has become a day for celebrating the city.
Walker said it’s a blessing he’s been able to keep Detroit vs. Everybody going in recent months. In September, its Eastern Market location shut down after its building partially collapsed. The company started a GoFundMe fundraising campaign to replace the $150,000 lost to the incident and help relocate the business. Detroit vs. Everybody was able to move into its new location downtown in December.
“I just saw it as an opportunity to show perseverance, to show that we walk how we talk,” Walker said. “It feels good to finally be in a position where we have another store location in the heart of the city and around a lot of historical places.”
Deep dive into Detroit
Walker said the new line was inspired by collections at the museum, such as its display on classic cars and artifacts from the Detroit Fire Department. Items will feature Detroit-centric places and things like the Packard Plant, Detroit fire department headgear, former car company DeSoto and Tiger Stadium.
The designer said he wanted to do a deep dive on the history of the D and introduce things people may not know about.
“There’s a lot of history here that influenced the nation, the world,” Walker said. “I just really wanted to draw attention to more of the beauty that is here other than Belle Isle; all those things everyone feels comfortable talking about. I came up with the idea of incorporating time travel into our brand, which would allow us to play with more historical ideas.”
The new collection will also feature a line of 13 rugs with landmarks of past and present like Caesarland, Briggs Stadium (the former name for Tiger Stadium), Faygo, Little Caesars and Carl’s Chop House.
Rebecca Salminen Witt, chief strategy and marketing officer for the Detroit Historical Society, said Walker reached out to the institution when he began coming up with the concept for “313 vs. Everybody,” asking to tour the museum’s collection.
“313 day is a fun, numerical marker to think about all the things that make Detroit cool and interesting and history is certainly a part of that,” Salminen Witt said. “At the (Detroit) Historical Society, we look for all of those unique little markers that give us an opportunity to bring you history in a little bit of a different way, that’s maybe a little bit more fun than you’re used to.”
Can’t wait to see pieces from 313 vs Everybody collection