In a world of political and spiritual unrest, clinging on to one’s faith seems the evident choice. While some people like to keep it private, some believe in flaunting and sharing one’s faith. This has led to the growing market of faith-based apparel. Retailers selling faith-based objects, sell not only bibles, crosses and religious medallions, but also music and clothes. In fact, in the U.S. many the shops selling Christian themed items find clothes accounting for most of their sales. Clothes with quotes from the Bible, and magnetic sayings, are becoming popular by the day. It is a method of spreading the word without actually taking up the task of preaching. Faith based clothing is not limited to Christianity only- Islamic, Jewish and even Buddhist sentiments are noticeable.
Purpose Behind Faith Apparel
The purposes behind selling faith-based clothing are many.
Sharing the faith- Faith based clothing provides a practical opportunity to share your faith with others. The aim is to open the door of faith to questions, so that people can engage in conversations and the word is spread. Often it is difficult to engage in a conversation with a stranger, but their common interest in faith, apparent from their clothes, makes it a lot easier to know each other.
Keeping morality- Some people also believe that often in our lives, we are prone to committing acts of immorality. However our clothing can provide the means of keeping ourselves in check. Our shirts should serve as a reminder to stop and think before we act. Blending fashion with spirituality- wearing faith based apparel serves a two-fold purpose. It serves as a form of expression, or rather a symbol for defining one’s individuality and also being an indicator of one’s taste and fashion sense. They reflect your faith and also create eye-catching style statements.
The social message- Wearing faith apparel can help you inspire, influence and even persuade others with universal values and morals. With violence and immorality spreading all around the world, it is necessary to keep one’s faith in religion. It helps to unite people and creates a sense of brotherhood among them.
KEEPING IT FASHIONABLE
It is a growing concern of retailers of faith apparel to blend their ideologies with fashion.
It aims at providing quality apparel that is fashionable. For the word to spread, it is important that the clothes are fashionable and appealing, especially to the younger generation. The more they wear it, the more it spreads.
From religious symbols to philosophical slogans or captions, to images of God and lyrics celebrating the Creator, the choices are endless. They all aim at sending a message and more importantly spreading the message to humankind. Sometimes slogans are seen, in the form of biblical verses, paired with clever and thought provoking commentary, at other times, a secular saying, label or brand or is modified into a message with Christian overtones. The idea behind designs parodying secular designs, is to amusingly draw people’s attention to a Christian message, by cleverly and carefully disguising it under the garb of a popular, and common design or ad. One might argue that such designs are made to ‘promote’ or sell our faith rather than having a spiritual purpose. It must be remembered that one must think about both the motto and the impact, the designs can have on people’s minds. More importantly, we must never let our witness only stay in print; our lives must be a witness to God’s grace and mercy.
