City Might
A Detroit transplant has big ideas for changing his hometown's image.
PH OTO BY ANGI E BAAN
WRITTEN BY KAREN SCHWARTZ
Above: Mighty Detroit's graphics are hand printed, offer-
ing a vintage effect and making each shirt unique. Left:
Robbie Biederman is working toward transforming the
world's perception of Detroit, one T-shirt at a time.
1 4 •
AUGUST 2009 •
.IN
Robbie Biederman, 27, didn't like his hometown getting such a
bad rap. The late-night shows were making fun of it; the news
made it look like a war zone. From the Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment
he shares with his wife, Rachel, and 1 1/2-year-old dachshund,
Lucy, he was distressed.
So in June, the Detroit native and University Of Michigan
School of Art and Design graduate, who moved to New York
in 2004 and works by day as an assistant art director for DC
Comics, launched an apparel company he hopes will help people
see Detroit in a different light. He named it Mighty Detroit
because he wanted to combine the word "Detroit" with another
that sounded strong.
"Everywhere I go in New York, I see people from Detroit
wearing Tigers hats. My sister lives in Los Angeles, and it's the
same thing," he explains. He says the ones he stops to talk with
say they are proud to be from the area — and want to help their
city. "So I made a decision," he says. "I didn't want it to be an idea
I once had, but something I did that hopefully did some good."
Growing up in West Bloomfield (he's a graduate of West
Bloomfield High), Biederman recalls when he was in the fifth
grade and the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners updated their
uniforms. "I had to run out and get their hats at Dunham's."
Taking his lead from his longtime passion for vintage uniforms
and sports logos, which he researches online, Biederman began
designing T-shirts inspired by Detroit sports apparel from the '80s
and '90s; he hopes to keep adding to the designs as well as expand
into sweatshirts and hats. He currently offers three shirts on his
Web site, mightydetroit.com , and plans to keep his products lim-
ited edition, not going over 100 for a run to keep them exclusive.
Shirts are marketed on his friends' backs, with the goal being to
reach major cities ripe with Detroiters.
To create his business, Biederman sought advice from apparel
brands he liked, started a blog, designed the Web site and picked
up online products that handle the e-commerce and hosting side
of the enterprise. Family and friends helped him with the legal
side, and Mighty Detroit was born.
In addition to offering a bit of hometown pride, part of each
shirt's sales (each retails for $22 on mightydetroit.com ) is donated
to the Greening of Detroit, a charity focused on planting trees,
gardens and park restoration that he chose because it was aimed
at changing Detroit's overall look.
Though the Detroit T-shirt market is somewhat saturated,
Biederman hopes linking the graphics to his hometown and offer-
ing Detroiters everywhere a slice of nostalgia will set his company
apart. "When the Pistons won the championship [in 1989], I had
10 different shirts. When they won the next year, I had 10 differ-
ent shirts," he says. "We have this great sports history."
The businessman-in-training says he has already picked up a
few things about executing his plan, such as not to screen print at
home. "It seemed like a great idea at the time," he says, but quick-
ly realized, "I'll ruin my bathroom and kill my dog." So he hired
a New York printer, who hand prints each shirt and gives them
their vintage feel. Customers, and his dog, approve.