The Story of East II West

E2W Apparel, or East to West Apparel, began as a dream of a 7-year-old kid faced a dilemma of feeling forced to wear the same overly in-your-face religious t-shirts he was given back through gifts, events, and so forth. It was common for him to receive apparel decorated with large religious slogans and symbols, but it was the kind that would make a young kid stick out in a crowd like abig sore thumb, the type of attention he did not want at that age. While strong religious apparel was not inherently negative, the strong attention it brought created an antagonistic environment not only to what he was wearing but to the mission or statement it intended to push, in this case, religion. Nowadays, modern fashion and streetwear have turned from unique statements and designs to simpler and more abstract forms of expression, possibly due to the increase in AI creativity. With this in mind, that young kid’s original dilemma led to the start of a dream that soon became an idea of how to revolutionize the retail industry through a Christian-based apparel line that was minimalistic in its visual approach, but maximizing its driven mission and vision through its compassionate and inclusive outreach. The biggest question that arose was simply how. How can one integrate Christian beliefs into a secular retail industry in a way that does not overwhelm the values of the brand, and thus East to West Apparel, or E2W, was born.