"I SUPPORT YOUNG BLACK BUSINESSES" x STÜSSY
A quarterly fundraising initiative founded and developed by Virgil Abloh (creative director and founder of Off-White™) called “I SUPPORT YOUNG BLACK BUSINESSES”, reflects Abloh’s broad-based advocacy for the support of Black talent by raising money and awareness for organizations selected by the designer and his team. Following his first partnership back in August with Chicago-CRED, which stands for "Create Real Economic Destiny"— an organization Virgil Abloh has partnered with since 2017 in his home city and is focused on reducing gun violence, comes Phase Two in collaboration with surf-and-skate brand Stüssy.
Celebrating the label’s 40th anniversary in business, they’ve invited a group of designers to create on their canvas, the classic Stüssy World Tour t-shirt. Abloh designed an exclusive tee that features the commanding neon orange slogan, “I Support Young Black Businesses”, layered with Stüssy’s handwritten logo, Abloh’s name rendered in Stüssy’s iconic scribbled font, and a warped, Xeroxed Sphinx graphic. The shirt was produced by Jay Green, of One Accord Apparel Group, which is based in Chicago. One Accord is the same Black-owned screen printing business that helped to launch Abloh’s career. Stüssy will donate a portion of the net proceeds from the sale of the t-shirts to Future of Museums, an organization of Black and Indigenous curators, scholars, arts administrators and more, who are collectively dedicated to ending systemic racism and colonial practices in museums and other art spaces. In 2021, the Future of Museums will publish a research manual for national museums, galleries, and more that lays out new foundations of equity, community and justice. But in addition to Stüssy’s donation, Off-White™ will make a separate donation in support of the Future Of Museums.
