Our Purpose
Crossbearer Clothing is focused on increasing importance in relational living by combining love and self-awareness with fashion and design.
Limited Time Only - Garments with "Original" print under the logo to indicate you were our Original Supporters.
Now, you might be thinking, the clothes look good, and the phrases are quite bold, but what is Crossbearer Clothing and what is their purpose or goal?
Why “Crossbearer” Clothing?
To explain what Crossbearer Clothing is, it might be beneficial to first discuss what we meant by the term Crossbearer, or who a Crossbearer is?
The term “cross” may often invoke thoughts of Christianity in many minds, but the cross is also a recognized symbol of suffering and pain, being one of the most popularized torture methods in history. Similarly, “Crossbearer” may conjure thoughts of Christ, and although He may very well be the archetype of suffering heroes, or “Crossbearers”, he is by no means the only one to bear suffering.
If a cross is often recognized as suffering and pain, than a Crossbearer, is simply one who bears with this suffering and pain. And as all of us have had to endure some means of suffering in our past, and will, no doubt, experience more throughout whatever time we may have left, it becomes clear than that we are all to some extent Crossbearers. The extent to which we are Crossbearers, is determine less by the “cross” and more by the “bearer”. Therefore, life is not determined by whether or not we will have to bear a cross, or what the cross will be, but instead, how we bear our crosses often determines what our life will be.
Why Bear a Cross?
It may sound like a gloomy outlook on life, but suffering, like most things in life, is important, and is of necessity. The commonality of suffering amongst all of us grows compassion for each other, knowing we all alike are enduring our own hardships. And I would state, to the contrary of gloomy, it is instead seeing the positive of the most gloomy of circumstances, which allows those circumstances to more likely lead to more positive outcomes. The alternative; running from suffering or attributing no benefit to it, often leaves us anxious in anticipation of it and more miserable when it comes, which to those trying to avoid it at all costs, often seems too often.
Those who have made an impact to those around them, whether family and friends, community or city, nation or world, have had to bear some means of hardships and challenges to have made this impression. The ones who have had the largest impact throughout history, are often those who endured suffering with patience and hope, always focused on the goal ahead. And those we hold dearest are often those who endured these things, not for themselves, but for those around them. What is it that draws us to these stories, or makes us cling to these heroes? I truly believe the reason it holds our hearts and thoughts the way these stories do is because we recognize it as the deepest form of love; the truthful and sincere giving of ourselves for others as Crossbearer's.
Bear with the Crosses of Others
It is easy to be happy and treat people kindly when everything is going well around us, or to put simply, when it is convenient for us to do so but can we still love others and treat them kindly when it is not easy to do so? We thought that the term Crossbearer was a positive way to encourage people to strive to bear crosses with others so that our love for them may be to the truest extent. Most of us agree that a life focused on the people, instead of the things, around us, is more likely to lead to enduring happiness.
Unfortunately, life has a way of getting us busy in our financial journey to stability and we often find ourselves too busy to spend time with the significant people around us, and usually, in too much of a rush to enjoy the one-on-one encounters we experience with strangers throughout our day-to-day. Life is what you make it, as many say, but we have to constantly make an effort to direct our life towards our own goals, so as not to be pulled into the current of life.
Promote Relational Living through Relational Living
These messages are not new by any means, but Crossbearer Clothing is targeting a new means of spreading it. We wanted to use clothing to portray positive messages, with an emphasis on relational living. The more the clothing is worn, the more those who wear it encounter more people, and through their own day to day encounters, the lifestyle is encouraged through the clothing. Those who see it being worn may even decide to wear it themselves, further promoting the message. So through clothing that promotes relational living, and through the relational living itself, we hope, even in the slightest, to re-emphasis the importance in placing our joy in life, more in the people with whom we share it with, instead of the things in which we do or do not possess.
The phrases selected for the 5 designs were chosen from a list of many options due to their catchiness and trendiness, but even more so, for the plain boldness of the message they portray. All in different ways, together, pointing to the same overall concept, although we often have to bear crosses in order to love each other well, we should always strive to place our importance in our lives in others.
These are some of the concepts we had in mind, when we came up with each of our phrases:
To reduce suffering in the world, we try to treat others kindly so they suffer less, and make an effort to be conscious of how i treat others during my own hardships.
I’D RATHER LOVE YOU THAN JUDGE YOU
To emphasize the importance of always striving to approach others with love throughout our day-to-day encounters, rather than avoiding others due to negative stereotyping or judgment.
Having better control over our actions and thoughts is a very powerful means to becoming the best person we can be, and through the same strength, we can also become better equipped to treat people kindly on a more consistent basis.
The law was made to tell us what we should not do, and not what we should. As there is no law for love, kindness, and charity, it is important to remember to place our standards for interacting with others above the standards set in the law. If there was no law, what kind of person would you be?
It is often through our words we have the largest impact to those we encounter on a day-to-day basis, and we should place more caution on the words we speak.
Charity and Donations
As the message is the goal, we hope to truly be "Clothed with Purpose" by donating 20% of annual profits to charities providing clothing to the less fortunate. If you would like to donate directly to this cause, please email us.
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Thank you for your time and support.
We appreciate you,
The Crossbearer Team