{"id":921110,"date":"2026-07-08T15:20:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/921110\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T15:20:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T15:20:26","slug":"dodgers-collab-with-kaws-will-put-artists-unique-xx-spin-on-merch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/921110\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers’ collab with KAWS will put artist’s unique ‘XX’ spin on merch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Buoyed by the success of last year\u2019s MLB Tokyo Series merch<\/a> collaboration with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami<\/a>, the Dodgers are venturing further into partnerships with cutting-edge artists. <\/p>\n

Fans whose eyes are solely focused on the diamond might be unfamiliar with KAWS, aka Brian Donnelly, a Brooklyn-based artist and designer<\/a> whose signature creation is Companion, an art toy and sculpture that resembles an eerie Mickey Mouse with a skull head and \u201cX\u201d marks for eyes.<\/p>\n

How that sensibility meshes with Major League Baseball will be evident when the KAWS x MLB collection<\/a> is released ahead of the Dodgers visiting the New York Yankees for a three-game series July 17-19. The release was announced by Fanatics<\/a> and Complex,<\/a> which will market and distribute the collection.<\/p>\n

\"Detail <\/p>\n

Detail of the Dodgers logo from the KAWS x MLB collection<\/p>\n

(Major League Baseball)<\/p>\n

KAWS\u2019 interpretation of official team gear will reside on Nike-produced jerseys, T-shirts, hoodies and caps. Count on the ubiquitous \u201cXX\u201d that typically stand in for eyeballs on the Companion character <\/a>and the artist\u2019s other dark cartoonish creations.<\/p>\n

The collection also will include baseballs, bats and a limited run of Topps trading cards that promise to feature KAWS\u2019 interpretation of Dodgers and Yankees iconography. <\/p>\n

\u201cTimed to one of baseball\u2019s most storied rivalries, the collection brings KAWS\u2019 distinctive visual language to the diamond,\u201d said Aaron Levant, chief executive of Complex. \u201cThe result is a crossover moment at the intersection of sport, art, and pop culture, where legacy franchises are reframed through one of the most influential artists of this generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

KAWS\u2019 body of work<\/a> spans more than 25 years and includes painting, sculpture and design that straddle fine art and global culture. He is known for larger-than-life sculptures and hard-edge paintings that feature his hybrid cartoon characters. <\/p>\n

While studying at New York\u2019s School of Visual Arts, he moonlighted as a graffiti artist, defacing billboards, freight trains and water towers. That changed in 1996 when he was given a skeleton key that opened glass advertising boxes on the sides of phone booths and bus kiosks.<\/p>\n

KAWS stopped writing his name on walls and began altering ads. He would steal ad posters, paint over them with rudimentary cartoon skulls with X\u2019ed-out eyes in pastel colors, then carefully replace them.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers hat from the KAWS x MLB collection.<\/p>\n

(Major League Baseball)<\/p>\n

Now his creations range in value from under $20<\/a> to millions<\/a>. His 2005 remake of the the Beatles\u2019 \u201cSgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band\u201d album cover using characters from \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d sold for $14.8 million at Sotheby\u2019s in 2019. His 9-foot-tall painting of Simpsons characters on a couch sold for $7.4 million. His piece showing a screaming \u201cKawsbob\u201d<\/a> (SpongeBob) fetched $6 million. <\/p>\n

The MLB collection will debut at Fanatics Fest <\/a>in New York from July 16 to 19 and in the Yankees team store July 16. The full collection \u2014 including the Topps trading cards \u2014 will launch globally July 20 on Complex.com, Fanatics.com, MLBShop.com and Nike.com.<\/p>\n

Items will be available at select Dodgers team stores July 20 and in the Dodger Stadium team store July 31.<\/p>\n

\u201cKAWS is one of the defining artists of our generation, and bringing his artwork together with Major League Baseball and two of the most iconic franchises in sports creates something that speaks to fans far beyond baseball,\u201d Levant said. \u201cThis collection is designed to live at the intersection of sport, art, fashion and collecting in a way that only this group of partners could bring together.\u201d<\/p>\n