Europeans have a fascination with Detroit and it’s that attraction to Motor City that Aki Choklat will capitalize on with the Detroitissimi exhibition he’s creating at Pitti Uomo.

The Linda Dresner-endowed chair of fashion design on the College for Creative Studies in Detroit has worked with an extended list of fashion corporations over the course of his profession including Zara, Puma, Caterpillar, Harley-Davidson and others.

After joining the College for Creative Studies in 2016, he set a couple of goals: to raise the varsity’s fashion program to rank amongst one of the best on this planet and “to bring Detroit to the national scene.”

Choklat knew that as wealthy as Detroit’s fashion talent is likely to be, it could never compete with the Garment District in Recent York City. So he set out as a substitute to “create bridges and satellites outside Detroit.”

It was one fortuitous meeting that catapulted this concept into overdrive. Choklat said he attended an Italian consulate event in Detroit where he met Alyssa Tracey, director of international trade on the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Although the group was working primarily with Detroit’s other industries, notably defense and automotive, Choklat asked if she could be excited about supporting the style industry as well.

The reply was yes.

That response led him to Florence, Italy, and Pitti Uomo. As a designer, he had attended the show quite a few times over the course of his profession so he drew upon those relationships to broach the thought of making a consortium of Detroit brands to point out on the fair.

Once more, the reply was yes.

That was a 12 months ago and once the thought was green-lighted, Choklat and the MEDC spread the word to any Detroit-based fashion brands that desired to be considered for inclusion.

The result is known as “Detroitissimi” and it can include five brands — Detroit Denim, Boswell, K. Walker Collective, B.May Bags and Deviate — in addition to a special collaboration between the scholars of the CCS and Carhartt, which has called the town of Detroit home since its founding in 1889.

“We’re firm believers in experiential learning,” Choklat said, adding that he was “sick and bored with standing in front of a classroom telling my story.”

He looked to fashion brands to collaborate with the scholars as a substitute so that they could gain some firsthand experience within the industry. In 2019, Calvin Klein challenged the accessories design students to reimagine the longer term of that category of fashion, and in 2021, the institution collaborated with Stuart Weitzman to create their vision for the longer term of footwear.

In March, the faculty partnered with its neighbor, Carhartt, on a 12-week program where students within the graduate color and materials design program in addition to undergraduate fashion design students created pieces of sustainable fashion from materials that will otherwise have been discarded.

The scholars were split into 4 groups — Farmers Only, Labor to Leisure, Re-Source and Sequel Femme — and tasked with designing for various categories of staff.

The Farmers Only group used puffer jacket samples, face masks and scrap leather to create a pair of pants and two pairs of shoes.

The Labor and Leisure students designed a bag, jacket and vest intended for factory staff, using decorative, vivid zigzag stitches, natural dyes and optical fibers combined with Carhartt leftover materials.

The Re-Source group used laser perforation and embossing to provide an apron, coverall and a backpack for staff within the creative fields. And the Sequel Femme students designed a pair of sneakers, boots, a jacket and a skirt intended to be comfortable for garment staff.

“They took our products that had the landfill of their future, they usually gave them a recent life,” said Ben Hayden, vice chairman of world product design at Carhartt. “They breathed functionality into them, and I feel what impressed us essentially the most was not only did they create things that were functional — they created things that were beautiful, too.”

He said that for Carhartt, working with the scholars was “an ideal inspiration and a reminder to us to bring that beginner’s eye to the projects that we work on.”

Choklat said using Carhartt for this semester’s project was a no brainer. “Their global headquarters is down the road.” It made it easy for the corporate to bring their discarded fabric and trim, “dump it on our floor,” and see what the scholars could create.

The pieces might be delivered to Pitti Uomo but only as a part of the exhibit. They are going to not be sold because they’re one-offs. “Perhaps the following one we do may very well be industrial,” he mused.

But for now, it can be the opposite Detroit-based brands bringing products to sell across quite a lot of categories.

Detroit Denim, a 13-year-old company founded by Eric Yelsma, might be showcasing its handcrafted Made in U.S. jeans and accessories. Boswell, a up to date millinery brand founded by fashion photographer Boswell Hardwick, might be available as well. K. Walker Collective, a Black-owned brand from Ken Walker, offers high-end streetwear and tailored clothing for men; B.May Bags, from founder Barbara May, creates handcrafted leather handbags and accessories, and Deviate is a genderless streetwear/workwear brand from sisters Cassidy and Kelsey Tucker.

Michigan-based Octane Design will design the venue for the collective and muralist Mike Han will bring Detroit street art element to the show through live painting exhibitions through the show.

“The word Detroit is getting a lot chatter,” Choklat said. “So we all know we’ve to deliver.”