Dalton Walker
ICT
TEMPE, Ariz. — Two Native brands are getting a major boost from the National Football League.
Not Afraid and OXDX are part of this year’s “Origins: An NFL Collection” program just in time for the Super Bowl.
The NFL hosted a pop-up retail launch event in Tempe, Arizona on Wednesday to showcase the new merchandise before it hit stores and online on Thursday. The collection highlights design talent in cities hosting the Super Bowl. This year’s game will be played Sunday in nearby Glendale, Arizona.
Behind the two Native brands are namesake Elias Jade Not Afraid, Apsaalooke, and Jared Yazzie, Diné, and Allie Stone for OXDX. Designers Ashley Macias and Manor Phoenix are also part of the collection, which is only in its second season.
“At the NFL, our grounding belief is that ‘What you create is linked to what created you. When you share your art, you share your origins.’ The name was chosen to highlight and celebrate the amazing stories every brand has and the communities that uplift and support them,” reads a description of the collection.
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Not Afraid is known for his beadwork line. He used ledger paper storytelling as a guide for his NFL design. It’s his way to pay homage to his ancestors.
The design had to include the NFL shield logo and Not Afraid spun it into a red, blue version of a starburst effect. Not Afraid has three different designs that are available in a T-shirt, a hoodie, bag, poster and bandana.
“It came out way better than expected,” Not Afraid said. “I like to overthink. I went through so many different drafts and at the end, I was just, like, not satisfied with it so I just scrapped everything. I was like, all right, I’m going to do what feels right and it came out.”
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Like Not Afraid, Yazzie had roughly a year to get the designs done and approved. Both are part of an NFL outreach to the area Native creatives during Super Bowl week.
Yazzie created the streetwear clothing line OXDC in 2009. For the NFL collection, he produced three designs that are on t-shirts, hoodies, magnets and a water bottle.
One design shows a football stuck on a saguaro cactus as a way to show rezball, he said. Another says “Native Land” as a way to remind people whose land they are living on or visiting. The third, and his favorite, is a turquoise NFL shield.
“I was hyped to see this. I played sports half my life, watched it my whole life,” he said. “Going back to my mom’s side of the family, they are NFL football heads … I think Native people are just drawn to football.”
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