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 starting Friday, the items will be for sale online and in-person at the team’s store at Little Caesars Arena while supplies last. 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,” Saeed said in a phone interview. “But when you’re looking at that next tier of markets, I don’t think there’s another market that’s using culture the way we are. The oldest jazz clubs are here, P-funk began here, techno music was invented here, all these ties to music beyond Motown.
“When we’re looking at how (the capsule) is performing, a lot of that’s going to be through the lens of how it was received internationally, and what kind of new engagement did that create for us in these markets?”
For the estate, collaborating with the Pistons was about re-introducing Malcolm to Detroit, since much of his legacy is attributed to his time in New York City, particularly Harlem. “We felt like this was an opportunity to remind people that he grew up in Detroit, and that he said on numerous occasions that he’s from Detroit,” the estate’s representative said. “It was really more kind of humanizing him and not simplifying him to his time in New York.”
Saeed said the team wanted to work with the estate to honor Malcolm without appearing to crassly co-opt his image.
“When we were thinking about how to approach the project, we wanted to make sure that we were informed the appropriate way, from a scholarly perspective, that we were double, triple, quadruple checking and making sure that the story lines met,” Saeed said. “Everything was aligned. And it almost felt like the estate was waiting for the right platform for this to happen.”
The Pistons also established a philanthropic tie-in to the retail capsule. Tareq Ramadan, an adjunct anthropology professor at Wayne State University, worked along with the team and estate to ensure that the collection accurately depicted Malcolm’s years in the city.
For years, Ramadan had personally funded an annual $500 scholarship at the school for a student who showed a passion for civil rights and activism. This year, the team’s foundation picked up the tab for the Malcolm X Leadership Award with a $5,000 check.
While the NBA’s City Edition uniforms have given teams a chance to show the personalities of their hometowns, Detroit has gone beyond team gear to counter a history of negative narratives about their town. In previous retail capsules, the Pistons leaned on music with a collaboration with Motown Records, as well as one with the estate of J Dilla, a revered rap producer from Detroit.
Last season’s J Dilla capsule quickly sold out both online and in-person at Little Caesars Arena. According to the Pistons, 91% of online customers were new to the team’s fanbase.
When the Pistons were working on the J Dilla capsule last year, Kino, the manager of Detroit rap legend Royce da 5’9, inquired about the team’s next project. While in Royce’s studio, Saeed casually brought up Malcolm X to Kino, who was already working with the estate on other projects.
“The next thing you know, in the next few days and a couple phone calls later, we’re on the phone with the estate,” Saeed said. “Just talking through the initial concepts of what a collaboration could look like, what we wanted to do to really uplift Malcolm’s legacy, kind of educate people on some of the misinformation that may have been out there, specific to his so-called militancy, and how far and how extensive that was.”
The Malcolm X estate believes the collaboration is a good fit. “This was an opportunity … to continue his legacy with someone who we highly respect,” the estate representative said. “We felt like his legacy was in good hands and that [Saeed is] a good steward.”
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