Believing Is Seeing: Why I Started A Faith Apparel Brand
Faith apparel for me, especially urban faith apparel, has always been few and far between. Over the years, I found a few pieces that I fell in love with that shared a resounding message of hope, courage, and inspiration. In 2018, I started my own brand.
God be Goddin’ was a phrase my co-owner, Claricha Foster, made popular in 2017 and it instantly resonated with me — as it did with many others. God be Goddin’ was/is a declaration of who God is, His faithfulness and unchangeableness.
One of our mantras is that He is Him (Exodus 3.14) and can only be Himself, the author of happenstance who works all things together.
The Why
What I love about faith apparel is that it allows you to express your heart for God on the outside.
Obviously, our heart and character matter most and that’s what people come to know us by. But having a shirt, hat, or accessory that matches your heart and zeal, a peek at the passion you have inside is pretty awesome to me.
Faith apparel is like an outward expression of our love and allegiance. It puts our belief, hope, and passion on display to those around us and in doing so, creates incredible witness opportunities and conversation starters.
The Way
I’d like to think we create good conversation starters through our apparel at God Be Goddin’. And the urban design and appeal do so in a language that we understand.
Our apparel speaks to people even when we don’t. As we’re walking about throughout the day, we’re not going to have a conversation with every single person we pass. But every single person we cross will likely see that shirt or hat. And it’s an opportunity for that message to provoke thought, to encourage, and inspire.
As lead designer, creating the God Be Goddin’ brand was very much gifted to me and inspired by God as the Ultimate Artist (Colossians 1.15-17, Psalms 19.1-4, Isaiah 44.24). Honestly, I hadn’t always thought about Him that way. But to behold His nature of continuously creating awakened my own creativity and gave me a fresh opportunity to flex my own creative muscles.
Always On Mission
Our apparel can speak for us even when we don’t have the opportunity to.
Imagine the photos of us in apparel that travel the web and social and throughout the time. It’s an under-appreciated yet powerful medium for the gospel that is near to our hearts. Like walking billboards for Christ in a way.
What’s interesting about how the brand came to be is that I originally just wanted to create one shirt for myself, for my personal expression and collection. I had no intent to start a brand or clothing line. But at the last minute, I thought that this was too good not to share with everybody.
The movement began and the rest as they say is history. As the saying goes, follow your passion and the money will follow. This is a picture of that. We’re going to rep somebody’s brand anyways. Rep God’s.
God Be Goddin’ is a faith apparel brand with a mission to declare who God is and to make Him known.
