Blessed Brand Clothing Has a Bright Future

Breanna Tillie

When a person desires to spread a message that they are deeply passionate about, that person has many options. Some individuals choose to write creative works that bring underrepresented groups and social issues into the limelight. Other individuals may choose to communicate their values and ideals through painting, drawing and other forms of visual expression. The University of West Georgia encourages students to use their talents and gifts to not only make money but to also inspire others. One student is doing this through his clothing line. 

Eric Jackson, a business student at the University of West Georgia, headed to Clark Atlanta University on Feb. 1 in promotion of his clothing line “Blessed Brand Clothing.” Blessed Brand Clothing is a spiritually-based clothing line started by Jackson in his pursuit of spreading the Christian faith.

“The mission behind the brand is to spread the Gospel through clothing. I want to allow people to understand and know what Jesus Christ did for them through his death and resurrection,” said Jackson. “He’s offering salvation to all of us because we all fall short of the glory of God. I wanted to portray that message through clothing using imagery and scripture.”

After becoming a Christian in 2020 during the pandemic, Jackson experienced a deep desire within his heart to share that message with both his friends and people he did not know. 

“I then wanted to start a mission for something bigger than just me,” said Jackson. “One thing I was talented at was designing clothing.”

However, as to be expected with starting anything new, starting this business venture was not without its doubts and hesitations. 

“COVID was going on and I didn’t really have a lot of community or entrepreneurial friends, so I was doing pretty much everything on my own,” said Jackson. “I was learning mainly from losses and lessons as I tried to figure everything out.” 

Jackson did not always know exactly what the next step was in the beginning, which resulted in having to take losses at times. However, rather than being devastated by this, Jackson saw this as an opportunity to be a better and smarter entrepreneur. 

“One of the losses was spending a lot of unnecessary money on clothing and just slapping designs on them,” said Jackson. “I was thinking that I could just put the word ‘Blessed’ onto the clothing, but I needed to stop just doing what I wanted to do and look at what my target audience wanted.” 

Jackson advises all aspiring entrepreneurs to seek wisdom and have a business plan in place, even if that means using seemingly elementary planning processes. 

“I remember how in second grade when we would write papers, we would have to draw out the main idea, three supporting ideas, and chart a sort of diagram before we even started writing the paper,” said Jackson. “Yes, learning lessons through losses can definitely be a great teacher but you can also save a lot of time if you have the plan and wisdom beforehand.”

And while Jackson knows that making plans and learning from your mistakes are essential to success, Jackson believes that the ultimate key is to believe in the aim of your business.

“If it were easy everyone would do it,” said Jackson. “You have to stick to whatever your mission is. And if the mission is bigger than yourself, you’ll never give up on it.”