loryn C. Ajuzie works as a pharmacist by day in the Baltimore area and is working on nights and weekends to launch her own faith-inspired fashion brand, PBF: Perfected By Faith.
She’s not alone. With the advent of small-batch clothing lines launched easily and cheaply through websites and social media feeds rather than brick-and-mortar retail stores, many fashion entrepreneurs like Ajuzie are creating new clothing brands, products and strategies driven by their personal faith and beliefs. Their success raises questions about branding strategy as well as ethics of retail.
“Perfected By Faith is a purpose-driven brand,” Ajuzie told ReligionUnplugged.com. “Our sole mission is to inspire young men and women to reach greater heights by stirring up their faith in Christ through fashion.”
Ajuzie, 31, is a daughter of immigrants from Nigeria who moved to the United States, first to Alabama and then to Maryland. She said she comes from a long line of family members who champion entrepreneurship, hustle and hard work. Now she’s CEO of her own company and trying to get her sales off the ground.
Ajuzie hires designers to create the clothes for PBF, which she sources and produces from abroad. Her products include T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, pants and shorts. She markets these clothes products almost entirely on social media — mainly Instagram, where she has an initial 692 followers — and she sold about 110 items by May 2022, yielding around $5,000 in revenue.
She’s not alone as a faith-based fashion entrepreneur in the Instagram era. More people are able to create brands and show or sell products entirely via social media, such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. This allows the entrepreneurs to completely bypass traditional retail fashion production and distribution channels, such as brick-and-mortar retail stores. The coronavirus pandemic dramatically increased online shopping for Americans, giving a further boost to these entrepreneurs.
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