DETROIT — “This is already released, this is coming in March”, said Ken Walker, as he pointed to the wall of multiple projects underway. He’s a fashion designer and founder of K Walker Collective, a clothing and apparel company he launched after his career in advertising.
The Detroit native is taking his creative approach and brand to the next level. Walker partnered with Motor City Cruise, the G-League affiliate of the Detroit Pistons, for one of their February games. It’s a part of the organization’s Black History Month initiatives.
“This is the first time I’ve designed on behalf of me as a designer for something else and providing creative leadership to it. I took a lot of pride in it. It could’ve been anybody that did this but it gave me an opportunity to show that I can bring something like this together.”
Chosen by Walker, the Detroit Phoenix Center was the featured non-profit on the custom jersey. Founded in 2017 by Courtney Smith, prides itself on nurturing young adults, ages 13-24, in the Detroit area by providing educational resources, scholarship programs, and emergency crisis housing.
Crafting a creative vision for his line of apparel is quite the process for Walker who was named Emerging Designer at New York Fashion Week in 2019.
“It’s humbling and exciting. It reminds of when you chase your dreams, opportunity chases you. I’ve been on that journey for the past six years. I believed in this moment, and I’ve been putting everything I have into this work, mentally, emotionally, physically, financially, and now the opportunities are unveiling themselves.”
The vision wall keeps growing for Walker who plans to open a storefront in Midtown Detroit this spring. He has this message for other creative visionaries like him: “I ask people to find that ‘why’,” as he referred to his reading of the book, Start with Why. “It challenged me to think, ‘what is the why of you?’ ‘what drives me to design clothes? To be a beacon in my community is my goal and (knowing that ‘why’) will drive everything you do and every decision that you make.”
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