Spring/Summer 2016 - Ghetto Palm

In the abandoned lots of cities, at home amongst rubble and remnants of urban decay, a plant grows as a symbol of strength and rebirth. Known as the Ghetto Palm—or Tree of Heaven—this tree thrives where you’d least expect it. As the first thing to bloom where structures have crumbled, it grows tall and quickly. 

The landscape of the Ghetto Palm’s natural habitat inspired Swiss illustrator Benjamin Guedel to imagine it as a graphic for our Spring/Summer 2016 collection. Guedel walked the streets of Detroit with the help of Google Street View and sketched the city’s neglected yards where Ghetto Palms thrust through unforgiving ground. Images of gutted cars, weeds, and forgotten buildings served as points of reference, and he combined these elements into collages with the Tree of Heaven at the forefront. 

A selection of shirts, caps, shorts and swimwear were given the allover print treatment and outfitted in vibrant colour ways. Finally, to celebrate the release, footage of WIP veteran Benjamin Guedel’s interview about the project will be published soon.