Amsterdam-based streetwear brand Patta has teamed up with Tommy Hilfiger for a very meaningful collection. The upcoming collection celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Pan-African flag last year. The flag is a symbol of black unity and freedom and it captures the power and influence of the African diaspora movement with its message:
"Division is weakness, unity is strength"
Patta x Tommy
The ‘meant-to-be’ collaboration
Patta and Tommy Hilfiger have collaborated for the first time and immediately created a unique collection. The cooperation came about in a funny way. Kevin Payne - Tommy Hilfiger's graphic, branding and collection director - had been trying to contact Patta for some time. He just never got hold of the label. This changed when his eyes fell on an employee at Tommy's security headquarters. This employee always wore Patta, so Kevin started a conversation with him. He turned out to be a friend of the founders of Patta and he eventually introduced Kevin to Patta. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be!
Patta x Tommy Clothing Collection
The upcoming clothing collection was originally planned for 2020, the year that marks 100 years since Marcus Garvey designed the Pan-African flag. Now, in 2021, we can finally enjoy the collection with the same message. For a range of T-shirts, hoodies, sweats, jeans and accessories, Patta delved into Tommy Hilfiger's extensive archives. The garments come mostly from Tommy's racing history and therefore feature a lot of flags and logos.
To celebrate the sense of interconnected history, present and future, traditional Pan-African colours have been used. The iconic white, red and blue Tommy colours have now been replaced with deep red, black, green and yellow, making African culture and community self-development central to this collection. The clothing is available in both adult and children's sizes.
“As a Black-owned company from the Netherlands, we wanted the collection to take classic Tommy aesthetics but have them represent where we’re from.”
Patta
Lookbook and Campaign
The label presents a vibrant lookbook, shot in the heart of Lagos, Nigeria. The filmmaker of the accompanying short film, "Two Become One", is Dafe Oboro. The campaign photography was done by Moroccan visual artist Hassan Hajjaj.
The film is based on the concept of the merging of unrelated things. Dafe visualises the coming together of two families. In this case Patta and Tommy. You see a family of seven being invited to a traditional Urhobo wedding where everyone but themselves is walking around in traditional indigenous clothing. This creates a stir, but reflects when two ideas, persons and communities become one. Check out the campaign video below.
In addition, the label presents Katibo Yeye, a documentary directed by award-winning Dutch film director Frank Zichem. This documentary is now available for streaming for a limited time via pattaxtommy.com. The film follows Clarence Breeveld, a man born in Suriname and living in the Netherlands, as he follows the shipping route from Ghana to Suriname taken by his enslaved ancestors. In doing so, he visits the locations where slave trade took place.
Donations
As part of this collaboration, Tommy Hilfiger and Patta will make donations to The Black Archives from Amsterdam, Sistah Space from London and The Good Neighborhood Collective from Milan. These companies were each chosen for their dedication to celebrating Afro-descendants and elevating their voices. Patta has been a long-time supporter of these three organizations, and through the donations, the Dutch streetwear company and Tommy Hilfiger want to continue building on their work to promote awareness, education and empowerment of the African diaspora movement.
Patta x Tommy Hilfiger release information
The entire collection will be available from Friday 9 April 2021 at pattaxtommy.com from 1PM.
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