DEL.ICIO.USCollege student and tycoon creates fashion for the faithful
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, October 05, 2008
And on the seventh day, they needed additional parking.
It takes something special to persuade several dozen teens to give up their free time on a gorgeous, end-of-summer Sunday afternoon to listen to speeches in an east Cobb backyard. Sure, the bottomless supply of brownies on the refreshment table and the live band serving as a warm-up act helps.
Alison Church / AJC
Chelsea Eubank’s Faithful Fish clothing line sits on display at a friend’s home in Marietta during a party to promote her ‘Wear Your Faith’ campaign.
Alison Church / AJC
She founded Faithful Fish, a clothing line that has made her a success at age 20, but brand loyalty is not the basis of Chelsea Eubank’s latest crusade. She wants Christian teenagers to set aside certain days to attend school in clothing that shows what they believe – in a gentle, nonprovocative way. That’s why she held this Marietta get-together recently. Many credit Eubank with making Christian clothing more stylish and relevant to youngsters.
Latest Headlines:
• More Living Stories
• Living photo galleries
• Georgia Aquarium news and photos
• Zoo Atlanta news and photos
But the biggest attraction is shirts.
Polos, tees …
Who knew how all-powerful they could be?
“They’re taking faith out of schools,” Chelsea Eubank, 20, tells the mostly youthful audience sprawled across a tennis court at this kickoff event for her “Dare to Wear Your Faith” campaign. Stylishly clad in a fish logo-ed white T-shirt that speaks both to her spiritual growth and her burgeoning business success, a smiling Eubank said: “This is a way to slowly bring it
back in and make it fun.”
At once extremely ambitious and determinedly low-key, “Dare to Wear Your Faith” is Marietta college student Eubank’s effort to get kids to put their beliefs right out there — on their clothing. Starting with last week’s inaugural “Wear Your Faith Wednesday,” the campaign calls on students to wear their favorite “faithful” shirts to school on the first Wednesday of each month (next up: Nov. 5).
While high schoolers are the primary focus initially, there are plans to reach out to college students as well. Right now it’s all about getting the word out via talks such as this one at the home of a family friend who also belongs to the 7,000-member Johnson Ferry Baptist Church. And by directing people to a new Web site (www.daretowearyourfaith.com), where they can register for the campaign, post photos and blog about their “Dare”-ing experiences. The ultimate objective: to register 2 million participants nationwide by the start of the school year next September.
Don’t underestimate the crucial word-of-teen-mouth factor in all this.
“I hope a lot of people will ask us why everyone is wearing shirts,” Walton High School sophomore Caroline Harrison said over the sound of the band. “If they do, we’ll tell them about this idea.”
As goals go, 2 million people is mighty optimistic. But that’s a description that fits Eubank to a tee. Literally.
Three years ago, a series of unexpected deaths in her family, including her father, didn’t turn Eubank bitter. Instead, it deepened her faith. Yet when the self-professed clotheshorse wanted to start dressing the part, she found the “faith wear” choices sold in stores and online too dreary or hectoring in nature. So she whipped up her own company, Faithful Fish, to produce her self-designed line of upscale Christian clothing (www.faithfulfish.com).
For a girl whose ambitions include being “as big as or bigger than Ralph Lauren” and running a mission-based business (a portion of all proceeds go to Christian charities), it may sound like an entirely natural development. Now.
“Everyone has always come to her for fashion advice, it’s her talent,” said Linda Siefried Eubank, who laughingly admits to some initial trial and error in trying to transform her only child’s high design ideals into actual products. “My downstairs had a hundred shirts that I’d ordered online for about a dollar, and Chelsea said, ‘No. This is Jesus Junk.’ “
Faithful Fish started small, selling women’s shirts in several preppy shades and featuring a signature, tastefully understated fish logo (located right around where Ralph Lauren’s is on polo shirts). The line has continued to expand and now includes shirts for men, youths and infants, as well as headwear. Sales are double this year over last, Linda Eubank says, and Chelsea’s profile continues to grow. The folks behind the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” publishing empire recently interviewed her for an upcoming volume, and the April issue of
“CosmoGIRL!” featured her in an article titled “Secrets of Teen Millionaires” (a reference to the company’s estimated $1 million worth).
Even more impressive, the sophomore at Florida’s Beacon College has discovered a previously underserved niche: People of faith — particularly, fashion-conscious, trend-setting teens and young adults — who are eager to express themselves in a casually sophisticated way.
“That is one angle that has not been adequately satisfied in the marketplace,” said Tommy Newberry, a best-selling motivational author and consultant in Atlanta, who recently joined the “Dare to Wear” campaign’s national advisory board. “There’s a lot of Christian clothing out there that’s not high quality. They’re not making it so everyone would want to wear it.”
Not Steve Randall, anyway.
“Most of it is about pushing your faith on someone else or giving fire-and-brimstone messages,” said Randall, a senior at Fellowship Christian School in Roswell, who’s eager to get his hands on some Faithful Fish shirts. “Her stuff is not offensive, and it says you’re not offensive. You’re a Christian and proud of it.”
A tackle on the state’s reigning Region 5-A champion football team, Randall has been instrumental in starting a Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at his school. To him, the chance to sport brand-new “FCA” T-shirts on “Wear Your Faith Wednesday” sounds like a match made in heaven.
“I think when people see us wear them around campus, they’ll be more comfortable about doing FCA,” says Randall, adding that the shirts are equally likely to attract attention off school grounds. “I’m sure it will have an impact. Kids pretty much pay attention to what other kids are wearing.”
Making people feel comfortable with who they are is the whole point of “Dare to Wear Your Faith,” according to its creator. Rather than proselytizing or actively recruiting nonparticipants, Eubank says, she wants those taking part to feel happy and secure about sporting an FCA shirt, a polo representing their church or any denomination’s house of worship — even a “gently” worn tee proclaiming allegiance to Ever Stays Red or some other hot Christian rock band.
“I don’t want people to think I’m trying to push Christianity on them,” said Eubank, who fully owns Faithful Fish and is funding the “Dare to Wear” campaign herself. “I’m still going through my own process of exploring my faith. This is just something that says, ‘It’s OK and fun to be who you are.’ “
And whoever that is doesn’t have to be wearing Faithful Fish, Eubank stresses.
But don’t be surprised if that signature logo starts popping up here or there in area schools the first Wednesday of every month.
“We definitely browsed today,” another Walton sophomore, Mallie Taylor, said at the kickoff event, where a display of Faithful Fish products in one room hearkened to the home sales parties that helped the company get its start. “It’s cute as can be, which doesn’t hurt.”
Services »
