Electric Forest x Tony Whlgn Hoodie

Limited-Edition Electric Forest x GV Black Collection

Heavyweight hoodie in ivory, featuring original artwork by Tony Whlgn printed on the front and back. 75/25 cotton/polyester. Unisex, oversized fit. Puff printed logo on the front. 

Designed by real humans, exclusively for Electric Forest.

Tony Whlgn® (pronounced Hoo-li-gen) is a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and cultural strategist born and raised on Detroit’s Eastside. His creative foundation was shaped at the Detroit School of the Arts, where drawing, painting, and design became a second language and laid the groundwork for a career rooted in storytelling, culture, and community impact.

Rather than follow a traditional academic route through the College for Creative Studies, Tony chose to build independently. In 2009, he founded Whlgn® alongside close friends as a streetwear label that would eventually evolve into a broader creative ecosystem and think tank centered around arts, culture, and entrepreneurship. What began as apparel became a platform for collaboration, mentorship, and community-driven design.

In 2012, Tony relocated to Brooklyn and joined Marc Ecko Enterprises as a junior designer. His talent and perspective quickly expanded his role into art direction and creative development for influential artists and brands, including Joey Badass and Pro Era, Big K.R.I.T., Cinematic Music Group, and Dej Loaf. Those experiences led him to Kith NYC under founder Ronnie Fieg, where he served as a lead designer contributing to one of the most culturally influential fashion brands of the era.

A later chapter in California deepened his studies in materials, fine arts, and nonprofit organizational development, ultimately reshaping how he viewed creativity as both artistic practice and civic infrastructure. In 2018, Tony returned to Detroit with the intention of building something the city had not yet seen. He co-founded Leaders Amongst Leaders (LAL) through a Skillman Foundation-supported initiative focused on teaching creative entrepreneurship to inner-city youth. He also acquired and developed a 1,600-square-foot studio on Detroit’s East Side that now operates as a creative hub for emerging artists, collaborations, workshops, and cultural programming.

Since returning home, Tony has completed more than 30 community-rooted murals throughout Detroit and Michigan. His work spans platinum-selling album covers, collaborations with Vans, Shinola, Neiman Marcus, and the Detroit Pistons, immersive storytelling projects, and large-scale public art installations that function as cultural landmarks. Across every medium, his mission remains consistent: to transform spaces, systems, and opportunities in ways that include the people most often left out of the blueprint.