ForHisGlory by Mitchell Interview (Uncut)

This interview is one of the five that I conducted as part of the 3000+ word guide on how to start a clothing brand!

Me: Just to start off with, what was your life like before you started your clothing brand?

Mitchell: Life before FHG was just me deepening my faith and trying to find my own style. I honestly think I’m finding my style now the more I get in my comfort zone. I’ve always wanted to be bold and run with a flag, and FHG gave me that opportunity. I was tired of constantly seeing corny Christian shirts. FHG started my senior year of high school so I was student just learning more about my interests and seeking perspective

I really respect your desire to create a brand that focuses on faith in God. There are definitely people out there that don’t like brands that just copy each other and are corny, so it’s great that your brand stands out unlike others. So tell me a bit about the moment that made you want to start FHG.

I’ve always wanted to be bold about my faith. Honestly, I was scared, and I’ve always wanted to talk to people. For many years I had ideas and never brought them to life. They stayed in the realm of the mind. Junior year is when I was like, I want to talk to people, but I also want to have people talk to me.

My church always has these shirts; they’re kind of corny, but it’s cool. I just got tired of the corny tees; I wanted to create something that’s tuff and inquisitive to make you want to know more. The goal is not just to be about clothes but to be a community of bold believers sharing their faith. It can be hard to share your faith; I just wanted to help others and myself to bring awareness to something that changed my life.

Ahh, fair enough. Again, it’s pretty honorable that you decided to create a brand to help push the world of God. Some people also find it hard to share their faith, so it’s brave of you to be able to overcome your fear too.

Tell me a bit about what skills or experience helped you to start off your brand when you first founded it.

No fear, my greatest skill is passion and not being afraid to ask for help. I asked lots of questions of people about what they are looking for. I wasn’t confident in my ability to get my ideas out of my head, so I looked for those who could help. Boldness in the process. When the first sample was made, I wore it every day. I walked around and talked about it. Word of mouth is the original virality

Straight facts. Speaking to people about ideas and not being afraid to ask for help is a great way to spread awareness! Now your brand is called ForHisGlory. How did you come up with that name? Was it a difficult choice? What does the name mean to you?

I looked through the Bible, and it was difficult, but I didn’t just want a name or a general word. I wanted an action for His glory. It’s not for mine; it’s to glorify him. There’s a Bible verse that says whether you eat, sleep, or drink, do it all for the glory of God. What inspired the name is obsession with the concept of glory. Searched up every time it was mentioned and what it’s about. The goal of my life is to glorify God in every way of my life. It just made sense

Most definitely. I can’t remember what bible verse that is, but I definitely heard that before too. So you’ve got the idea, the name, and the vision. But when starting off the brand, what were some immediate challenges you faced (practically & creatively)?

Business vs. Faith. I believe there are some practices in business that take advantage of people. I didn't want to do that; I didn't just want to run a business; I really wanted a community of bold people. Set apart, we see people in the clothes you know they practice what they preach. the mental challenge of getting ideas out of my head and not telling myself these ideas aren't good enough.

Last year, family, personal, and financial—it's like everything is against you. Creatively, not feeling confident in my ability to express my ideas, and also not being able to draw/design, was a hindrance. I've gotten better, but more work needs to be done. A big problem is belief. If you don't want it as bad as you want to breathe, there's work to be done. every opportunity is a moment to express your ideas into reality

^{*Mitchell went on to send voice memos for the remainder of the interview as shown by the ““ marks.}

“There’s a lot of bot accounts that scam and all that stuff. Immediately it felt like we were being attacked, and we were, if I’m being completely honest with you. So much, at least for me, because I’m still learning, honestly; it’s hard to balance living for God and trying to do something of the world. And I’m not trying to do something of the world, you know what I’m saying? I’m trying to do something that glorifies God.” … “And as a person, bro, I am learning about life. I’m maturing slowly, and there’s so much, so much ahead of me, but yeah. School and this is such a hard balance sometimes.

I’m premed and trying to get into med school. So with all those classes, right now I’m taking 20 hours & I’m kind of researching the brand for next month so that we can start up, because last year, we didn’t do anything because of all these issues that I kind of mentioned. But, taking 20 hours in school right now, trying to lock in.” … “I don’t want to be known as a doctor; I just want to be known as a guy who loves God, and this is a path that brings me great joy. And the people have been saying they need it.” … “Trying to stay true to God & live for his glory.”

Yeah, I definitely hear you on your point about business vs. faith. It’s easy for someone to lose their main goal with a Christian clothing brand and begin chasing profit and revenue rather than spreading the message. And it’s challenging to earn trust as a Christian clothing brand when there are people out there using this to scam people.

Touching on your focus on faith rather than business, how do you stay focused on your goal to spread faith rather than to gain revenue, income, etc.?

“Do you remember? Well, try to focus on what our mission is. The Bible was much newer in 1st Corinthians 10:31. It says so whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all for the glory of God, right? Our mission statement is more than clothes but a lifestyle for his glory. We cannot; we have bylaws and we intentionally, when we first started this business, I and my business partner had a three-hour conversation about why we don't want to do a business. Then we try to implement little things since then, but even in that, like, it's a balance of trying to do both because it's about you trying to do both if I'm being honest, but we are really sucking on the business part, and that's why we don't really make any money, but it's okay. I just try to think about things that will leave your legacy. I know money is just a tool. I think sometimes we obsess over the chase of money, which can be very, very hurtful, more than we realize it.

Obviously, like, I don't have much money. I don't know how much money you have either, but I think because it's so easy, that money kind of solves some challenges in this world. It doesn't really solve our emotional or mental battles, but it really does help with the physical battles. It's so easy for us to chase that, as it's like a destination, but my destination is not money.

There's a verse for us all that talks about how you are just temporary visitors of this world, so my goal is a legacy. I'm trying to think about how I impact the world around me before I leave. Like, you know, one day I'll die, and what will the world remember me for? And I hope it's that I love Jesus and that I loved truth.”

Indeed, money is a tool that people often confuse as a goal. Like you said, it doesn’t really solve emotional/mental battles. But it does solve physical issues & things financially. Having a mission statement is a great way to stay grounded, as well as the Bible verse you quoted.

You also mentioned that you have a business partner too. That kind of leads to the question: practically speaking, how did you find the resources to begin producing and designing clothes? How did having a business partner impact the amount of resources you have?

There's a Bible verse that talks about two being better than one. I think it's Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse like 9 or 10 or something like that, but somewhere in Ecclesiastes. Whenever somebody falls, they can pick you up. So, in areas where I'm not good at, my business partner is better at, and in areas I'm not good at, areas he's not good at, I'm better at. So, it's kind of balanced, but also, like, with two heads it can be hard sometimes to go in one motion because you're like, Okay, I want to do it this way, and he just probably wants to do it that way. So, it can be difficult sometimes when you try to do things with another person.

But if you—because we know that the other, because I know that the other person's intentions and goals are for his glory, you know, for our brand, for our business, all that—it makes it a little bit easier for me to forgive and easier for me to work with. As long as I know that my goals are for the brand and for his glory and all that, this will probably work better. You said, "How do you find time to find the resources to bring in producing?" So, I use Procreate. I try to use Adobe Illustrator too, and I try to use some, um, Adobe Illustrator alternatives. So, it's just two people being able to create ideas. Sometimes, it's a lot harder to, you know, bring those ideas to reality, which is what I've been struggling with for the last 2 years, to be honest. But the more I do it, the better I get.

So, the time is now. So as soon as I have an idea, I start sketching and start doing something with it instead of waiting. I know sometimes I wait too long. So, yeah, it's so much easier when you have a partner who's skilled in different verses. So he's better at the video stuff. I'm better at community finance stuff. I have tastes; he also has tastes. There are areas we complement, there are areas we overlap, and there are areas we kind of weaken each other in, but it's okay. Shout out to God.

Yeah, I hear you. It’s definitely helpful when you have somebody to collaborate with and share each other’s ideas with. Now you’ve mentioned earlier that you wanted to create a Christian clothing brand that wasn’t corny or repetitive.

Looking at other brands in the Christian clothing brand niche, how do you remain unique in the world of brand ownership?

"I use the word corny very loosely, but in repetitive, I think that ideas are fleeting and ideas come and go, and I guess when you say repetitive, I think of okay, like across on every item or something like that. I try to stick to myself; I try to stay original to my ideas. I really only retailed it Instagram for this actually, but I try to make sure I consume less and just see the stuff around me around the world and use that as inspiration. I think, there are no new ideas under the heavens, so I don't think there's anything that's going to be not repetitive. probably somebody's creating the same idea or something similar.

Just because it's me, it just has a different flavor. Just because it's you, it probably has a different flavor but it's still kind of a similar idea. I would say to one person it's corny and to one person it's not corny so again it's relative so maybe corny might have not been the right word. I just mean clothes that I would wear. I just think what I would wear is not corny so it's all subjective in that manner, if that makes sense. I hope that makes sense. How do you remain unique to the world of friend or worship? I try to be me. We try to be us, making clothes that we would actually wear, because a lot of clothes I wouldn't wear.

I don't like brands to just throw stuff on. Like, Atlanta's probably my best example of this. I don't like a lot of Atlanta streetwear. There's so much good streetwearout there but there's also so much bad. This one be part of the good Amen, amen.”

Yeah, that’s fair enough. I agree with you on your point about ATL streetwear, and they’re definitely one of those scenes where designers throw on a lot of graphics onto their shirts & hoodies. Looking around the world is definitely a good way to gain ideas.

Now with every clothing brand, there are going to be hard times that they face throughout the journey. Were there any times you felt like giving up when running FHG? If there were (or if not), what are some things that keep you motivated to continue running your brand?

“In the back of my mind, it was just last year; I've wanted to let the brand die because of all the, like, personal, financial, and, you know, interpersonal problems that were happening with my brand and me and my business partner. But even in the back of my mind, I still worked on "for his glory" stuff. I'm telling you, we haven't dropped anything in a year, and I've still been working on "for his glory" stuff, you know what I'm saying? I don't think even in me wanting to give up, I can give up. You know what I'm saying? And what are some things that keep you motivated to continue running the brand? It's the people. The people are what makes me motivated.

I went to—I used to go to the University of Oklahoma—I went to OU to visit a friend; the guy still has a bracelet from the brand from when I first met him. People are still wearing the clothes, people are still impacted, the people are still DMing me, and people are still asking me about the brand and how it's changed their life and how it's affected them. It would be selfish of me just to end it for myself because it's easier. So it's me going through these battles of hardness and not wanting to just end it because I don't want to do it, you know what I'm saying? I have to travail because being lazy is not going to get me anywhere. I think for everybody, no matter how hard their ideas are, when there's something that you're passionate about, it's so hard to give up on.

I don't know if I mentioned this, but I'm premed; I want to be a doctor. I'm in my final year of undergrad. Oh my goodness, this is hard, but I have no choice. You know what I'm saying? I have no choice but to travail. No matter how difficult it gets, I have no choice. I think that's the same thing with any vision, any idea coming to our head. I think it takes boldness to keep going when it's hard, keep traveling, even if nobody sees it, because we are meant to create out of our words and face our new realities.”

That’s so true, and I know exactly where you’re coming from. It gets to a point when running any business where it becomes less about our own interests as business owners and more about the impact our business has on other people. And there are ideas that people develop that are so strong that it’s difficult to give up on. I’ve experienced this firsthand with my own newsletter too, and hosting interviews with brand owners like yourself only strengthens my drive to continue.

Now of course, after the hard times pass, there will be good times that come afterwards. What are some milestones & successes that your brand has achieved? Big or small, what did they mean to you?

“And thank you. This really inspires me to go harder. Not necessarily to go hard. I mean, you definitely need to go harder, but people see you, right? And we all want to be seen. Like, I see your newsletter. So I just want to let you know, like, I saw your newsletter, and I was like, This is cool. How can I get on it? Then I saw your thing about, like, oh, you can literally fill this out and I'll interview you. So I'm very, very honored. The biggest milestone, the biggest accomplishment, to me, is seeing people wear my clothes.

And people talking to me about the impact it's had, especially when it comes to evangelism, especially when it comes to talking about your faith and talking about your relationship with God, makes it a lot easier. People said people have come up to them and asked them about what it means to carry the cross. Like, how's their walk with God, and even praying for them? So that's the biggest impact. I think something I've been pretty aware of since I was a kid is the legacy and how I want to affect other people.

For you, even Instagram is like a for you page, and TikTok has a for you page. We do other things for ourselves, but in doing it for ourselves, we affect other people. So, for you, what can I do for you? You know what I'm saying? If it's about me, me, me, me, me, we'll die one day; it doesn't really matter. It's about how we can live an impact for other people, to help them become a better version of themselves. If we continuously chase that train.

Yeah. And I realized, like, the more I follow Jesus, the more I try to be like him, and again, I suck. I'm not good. I'm, I'm trying. I'm trying, man. But the more I try to be like him, the better I can love people. And that's the biggest impact he's left on my life: how to love. The impact I want to leave on people's lives is love. If we could leave an impact of love, we've done it.”

It must be amazing to see people wearing your clothes! It’s crazy because at one point, it was just an idea in your head, but now it’s a piece that people are genuinely buying, wearing, and supporting! And no worries, I want to say thank you as well for hitting me up for this interview too! I’m really enjoying hearing your insight on brand ownership!

Now you’ve been running FHG for some time, but where do you see your brand in the future? What do you see your brand achieving?

“Sorry for my delay. I went to get in some stuff. But, in the future, in the next five years, with the right marketing and the right advertisements, I can see us hitting 100K followers and an active community. I don't necessarily know where this brand is going to go, but if you've heard of Mardel's, it's like a Christian store; it's like Bibles and stuff like that. My goal is to do partnerships with different brands and just, uh, fun missions and boldly share the gospel, help homeless people, and help anybody in need. Not necessarily sure, but I know this brand has a bright future if we target it right.

The goal is a legacy and to help evangelize. So, what I see us achieving is what we said, Forbes, all around the world. Kind of like in the UK, you know, Corteiz—shout out Clint. But even in that, like, I really want to drive the message of love and unity, to give Christians resources to learn about their faith and non-Christians resources to also learn about their faith. I want it to make it easier. Like, I want our website to have different resources to help you as you grow in your faith and self-discovery and learn about who God is, and, yeah.”

That’s definitely a goal that I see you achieving! I didn’t get your second voice memo; it’s also saying “Post unavailable” for some reason. But I want to say thank you once again for hitting me up.

I know this interview has been over an hour lol, so I will ask you one final question! If you could give advice to an aspiring brand owner that doesn’t know where to start, what would it be?

Okay, I'll just re-say what I said in the second audio. I said I don't necessarily know what I would like to see the brand achieving, but I know our mission is to glorify God. Help people advance as they share their faith, and also give resources.

You know, you live in the UK, so I'm assuming you know who Clint and Corteiz are. Corteiz started off small, and now they're this really big brand. So, you never know necessarily what, you know, the future has in store for you as long as you're consistent in putting yourself out there.

So, always put yourself out there. Yeah, that's to answer your question of if I would say just start. I would say, Okay, something that I learned is to think before you do stuff. I mean, duh, but I really did struggle with thinking before I did stuff. I would really say do it and learn as you do, and learn, learn, learn, and learn. There's a bunch of resources for free.

You do not need to pay people for courses for these things. I kind of wish there were more free mockups, but everything's free out there. Go to YouTube, ask questions, and don't be afraid to reach out for help, but also like, invest in quality over quantity.

I really do see a lot of brands coming out, but I don't see quality that I'm looking for, if that makes sense, but express your ideas, and remember you get better over time. If you don't hate—not hate, but you will dislike—your first idea.

Continue to create, continue to get yourself out there, and you'll have fun.”

This interview is one of the five that I conducted as part of the 3000+ word guide on how to start a clothing brand! 

I would like to give a huge thanks to Mitchell for giving me the opportunity to interview him. Please make sure to check out ForHisGlory & show your support by checking its catalogue!

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