our most recent giving trip found us in detroit, mi. no one on our giving team had ever been before and we embarked on a journey to do something we’ve never done before --  collaborate with high school students.

 

our road to michigan started when david merit, former university of michigan basketball star and founder of merit clothing, saw us on shark tank and reached out to see how we could work together. as a like-minded brand, merit was also built on the social entrepreneurship model, working to provide scholarships to underserved youth in northwest detroit.

what makes merit different from other scholarship programs is that the youth they serve are all enrolled in a four-year mentorship program called fate. the program aims to provide these students with enriching experiences that will help them become “world class citizens”. under david’s coaching, these students have worked and collaborated with top-notch companies from all over the country including google, shinola and most recently umano.

 

we were lucky enough to get to spend a whole day working with the students on their last workshop before they all graduate high school and head to college this fall (every single one of the 20 students in the program will be attending university).

they told us about all the amazing things they've done over the last four years together, and we conceptualized a capsule collection inspired by the theme of teamwork and togetherness.

all we can say is they exceeded all of our expectations, and throughout our drawing session and into the graphic design stage, these students helped create something so special we can’t quite find the right words to describe it, so we’ll just say it rocks (see for yourself)!

 

after working with the students on drawing and graphic design, we headed over to detroit achievement academy where the high school mentees became mentors to a group of first graders. it was incredible to share this giving experience with an inspiring group of students. these guys are super talented, creative, and intelligent. we know that their futures are so bright.