Barrett Dolata
| Special to The Detroit News
The Pistons are ringing in the 2025-26 season with “gator skin”-inspired streetwear, one-of-one Carhartt Duck jackets and Dia de Los Muertos designs — all created by local Detroit artists and businesses. Partnering with Kiwiclo, Southwest Freddy and ABC Vintage, the team aims to continue to represent “uniquely Detroit” style and culture through these collaborations.
“It’s genuinely a part of our brand values to want to work with Detroit-based companies and creators,” says Marissa Rickman, senior director of retail marketing and brand experiences with the Pistons. “It’s consistently top of mind: Who in the city is making a difference? Who’s aligned with our brand, and who can we really push the boundaries with that is Detroit-based?”
After the Pistons closed last season with a Kiwiclo hat collab that sold out in just over 30 minutes, Rickman says it was a “no-brainer” to kick off this season with them. The Detroit sports apparel brand is known for blending ’80s and ’90s-inspired designs with charitable partnerships, including a recent collaboration with quarterback Bryce Underwood benefiting Mott Children’s Hospital.
“Every time a team wins a championship, they come out with this merch that just isn’t that exciting,” says Kiwi Gadbaw, co-founder of Kiwiclo and the brand’s artistic visionary. “And all the comments are like, ‘Why don’t we go back to doing the style back in the day?’ “
This year’s opening night collection celebrates “gator skin” — the distinctive textured material and aesthetic that has deep roots in Detroit streetwear culture — with a T-shirt and arena-exclusive hat.
Merrick Weingarten, Kiwiclo’s other co-founder and Metro Detroit native, says the gator-skin tradition traces back to Detroit’s expansive fashion legacy. Their new hat design features blue gator skin leather on the brim, while also nodding to the history of Detroit car manufacturing with a decal on the front inspired by a car emblem.
“In Detroit, people used to wear gators to make a fashion statement,” says Weingarten. “I think the city as a whole doesn’t realize how much of a fashion city Detroit really is.”
The second collaboration to kick off the season features Detroit artist Freddy Diaz, who designed a Dia de Los Muertos-inspired shirt and poster for “Los Pistons night” on Oct. 29 and the team’s game in Mexico City on Nov. 1.
As the son of two immigrants from Mexico who grew up in southwest Detroit, Diaz says he’s always felt caught between two cultures. He’s a muralist who started with graffiti, drawing inspiration from his Mexican heritage through motifs like sugar skulls and from Detroit through pinstriping on lowrider cars.
“Being an American-born Mexican artist, you get down to Mexico and you might not be Mexican enough — they look at American-born Mexicans as Americans,” says Diaz. “And then you’re up here and you’re not American enough. So it’s a weird in-between middle ground you kind of get pushed into.”
For Diaz, the Pistons collaboration offered something he’d never had before: a chance to merge both identities.
“I’ve always been a Mexican artist creating Mexican artwork in Detroit, but I’ve never been able to match Detroit with Mexico,” says Diaz, who will also travel with the team to Mexico City. “Having that mix in this collaboration is something I’m able to put on display.”
His design embraces Dia de Los Muertos with marigolds and sugar skulls, while tying back to the culture of Detroit and the Pistons.
“One of my favorite things about Dia de Los Muertos is that people of my culture celebrate someone’s death as a passing into a new life,” he says. “They try to make something very dark into something very beautiful.”
The final Pistons collaboration celebrates the 50th anniversary of Carhartt’s Duck Jacket through a partnership with ABC Vintage, a Birmingham-based vintage curator that has become a destination for athletes and performers seeking rare, one-of-a-kind pieces. Together, they’ve created 14 distinct jackets customized with era-specific Pistons pins and patches from championship years (1989, 1990, 2004) and the “teal era.”
Aaron Cohen, who founded ABC Vintage in 2020, says the shop specializes in curated collectible sports vintage and has worked with stylists for major concerts and events, including NFL halftime shows.
“We were already playing with these workwear jackets a couple years ago, trying to elevate the pieces themselves,” says Cohen. “They’re already really cool pieces — sturdy and warm and just a known Michigan thing. These are staples. So we’re trying to bring in these classic workwear pieces, but then we’re also trying to find the unique details: What’s the inside lining? Is it plaid? Is it the special red?”
For the Pistons collaboration, Cohen sourced vintage Carhartt jackets from collectors around the world — Thailand, New York, Idaho — seeking out faded colors and unique details that make each jacket distinct. ABC Vintage then customized each piece with authentic vintage Pistons pins and patches.
“You try to find details within the basic staple Carhartt pieces,” Cohen says. “There’s some really good ones out there that are just so trendy and fashionable just alone — a faded, crazy color that resells for two, three, four times the retail price.”
The opportunity to work with both Detroit institutions means something special for Cohen and ABC Vintage.
“Carhartt’s from Michigan, the Pistons are from Michigan, and we’re a small business from Michigan,” Cohen says. “Being tapped to enhance this collaboration felt really special. Carhartt is making hats with all NBA teams, but the Pistons wanted to do something unique because of that Michigan connection. We’re just grateful to be part of that.”
The Kiwiclo collection launches Sunday at the Pistons’ home opener, with the hat available exclusively at Little Caesars Arena’s Team Store and the T-shirt sold both in-arena and at Pistons313Shop.com. Diaz’s Dia de Los Muertos shirt drops Oct. 29 at the Team Store and online, while ABC Vintage’s 14 one-of-one Carhartt jackets will be sold exclusively in-arena on Nov. 5.