A Letter From Our Founders
"Faith isn't something you wear on Sunday and take off on Monday. It's who you are—every day, everywhere you go."
Before there was a logo...
Before there was a website...
Before there was a single shirt...
There was a praying mother.
Every morning before I walked out the door of our apartment on the West Side of Chicago, I waited.
Not because I was running late.
Not because I had forgotten something.
I waited because I refused to leave until I heard my mother pray my name.
Her name was Erma Lee Lacey.
She prayed for each of her seven children every morning.
Only after I heard my name lifted before God would I walk out the door and face the world.
At the time, I didn't realize what she was planting inside me.
Faith.
Courage.
Compassion.
Character.
She often reminded me,
"Treat people the way you want to be treated."
"Do everything out of the goodness of your heart, and God will bless you."
Those weren't just words.
They became the foundation of my life.
My mother loved Jesus with all her heart. She loved gospel music, cherished long conversations with friends, and welcomed people into our home with a generosity that never seemed to run out. Even while raising seven children, she somehow always found enough food for neighborhood kids and anyone else who needed a meal.
She taught me something I still believe today:
You don't have to have everything to give something.
Growing up on the West Side of Chicago also taught me different lessons.
I saw violence.
I saw gangs.
I saw addiction.
I watched the damage alcohol caused in my own family, and I made a decision early in life that I would never allow those things to define my future.
My older brothers taught me resilience.
They believed weakness invited people to take advantage of you.
My mother taught me something equally important.
Strength without compassion isn't strength at all.
Those lessons stayed with me long after childhood.
Then life changed forever.
My older brother was shot and killed.
I was twenty-seven years old.
Grief has a way of forcing you to ask questions you never wanted to ask.
During that season, something happened that I still struggle to explain with ordinary words.
The voice inside me became impossible to ignore.
I knew God was calling me.
Around the same time, a friend invited me to his church.
Without either of us knowing it, Monica's friend had been telling her about that very same church.
We hadn't coordinated it.
We hadn't planned it.
Looking back, we believe God was leading both of us to the place He had prepared for us.
That decision changed everything.
Faith stopped being something we simply believed about.
It became the foundation of the life we were building together.
As our relationship with Christ grew, so did our desire to serve others.
For more than fourteen years, I served as the Assistant Department Head of Evangelism, leading neighborhood outreaches across Chicago, teaching evangelism, mentoring believers, speaking at conferences, organizing homeless food drives, and sharing the hope of Jesus wherever God opened a door.
But that ministry was never something I walked through alone.
Monica served as the Administrator of our Evangelism Department, working alongside me and playing an essential role behind the scenes as we served our church and community.
While I was often out front teaching, speaking, organizing outreaches, and ministering to people, Monica helped bring structure, consistency, care, and faithfulness to the work.
Those years of ministry shaped both of us.
They taught us that faith isn't merely something you profess.
Faith moves.
Faith serves.
Faith gives.
Faith shows up.
And those same years were shaping another ministry entrusted to us—our family.
Together, we raised our two sons, doing our best to build a home rooted in faith, character, responsibility, love, and a relationship with God.
Monica has always been a woman of faith.
As a wife, mother, ministry partner, and eventually co-founder, her prayers, wisdom, encouragement, and unwavering belief in God's purpose have helped shape not only our family, but the heart of what F8TH Brand would eventually become.
One day, while ministering on the streets, a young man approached me and challenged everything I was saying from Scripture.
We went back and forth.
Verse after verse.
Point after point.
I thought the conversation was about winning an argument.
Then, in the middle of our discussion, I sensed the Holy Spirit whisper something completely unexpected.
"Hug him."
Everything in me wanted to keep talking.
Instead, I obeyed.
The moment I embraced him, he broke down in tears.
What followed wasn't another debate.
It was a conversation about pain.
About life.
About hope.
Eventually I met with him and his parents for Bible study.
That day changed me.
It reminded me that people don't always need another argument.
Sometimes they simply need someone to show them the love of Christ.
Years later, Monica and I found ourselves praying together about purpose.
We weren't chasing an opportunity.
We weren't trying to manufacture a business idea.
We wanted to understand what God was calling us to build.
We prayed about His purpose for our lives and for what would eventually become this company.
During that season, one word came to my heart.
F8TH.
I remember asking,
"Lord...what is F8TH?"
Monica and I continued to pray.
We didn't have the entire blueprint.
We didn't know exactly where it would lead.
But we believed there was purpose behind it.
Then something else came back to me.
As a child, my mother had taught me how to sew.
A memory I hadn't thought about in years suddenly became part of something much bigger.
With Monica beside me, and with the help of a close friend from church, ideas became sketches.
Sketches became designs.
Designs became a vision.
And that vision became F8TH Brand.
Not simply to make clothing.
But to create something believers could wear every day that reflected the hope, courage, identity, and faith found in Christ.
A way to...
Share Your Faith Without Saying a Word.
That simple idea became the heartbeat of F8TH Brand.
And from the beginning, it has been something we built on prayer.
Not just my prayers.
Our prayers.
Not just my vision.
A purpose Monica and I sought God about together.
F8TH Brand is the product of faith, family, ministry, service, sacrifice, and two people believing that God could use something as simple as clothing to open the door to something eternal.
Everything we create begins with purpose.
The shield represents the Shield of Faith—our confidence and protection in Christ.
The cross reminds us that Jesus' sacrifice is the foundation beneath everything we do.
The stripes represent His sacrifice, the authority believers have in Him, and the calling to stand firm in faith.
Our message—
Take The Leap
—is inspired by Peter stepping out of the boat when Jesus called him.
Peter didn't walk on water because he had all the answers.
He walked because he trusted the One who called him.
Without that first step...
There is no miracle.
We believe the same is true today.
Faith has always required movement.
It asks us to trust before we understand.
To obey before we see the outcome.
To move when God says move.
To take the leap.
At F8TH Brand, we believe clothing can do more than make a statement.
It can start one.
Every design is created with purpose—to create opportunities for people to encounter hope, spark meaningful conversations, and ultimately point someone toward Christ.
If one believer finds the courage to wear their faith without shame...
If one conversation begins because of one shirt...
If one hurting person is reminded they are deeply loved by God...
If one life is changed because someone had the courage to ask,
"What does your shirt mean?"
Then every sketch...
Every stitch...
Every late night...
Every sacrifice...
Every prayer...
Was worth it.
Our prayer has never been simply to build the biggest clothing brand in the world.
Our prayer has always been much deeper.
That someone would put on one of these shirts...
Walk into work.
Walk into school.
Walk into a coffee shop.
Walk through their neighborhood.
And because of one conversation...
Someone would discover hope.
Because of one conversation...
Someone would be reminded that God has not forgotten them.
Because of one conversation...
Someone would discover the life-changing love of Jesus Christ.
If that happens...
Then F8TH Brand has fulfilled its purpose.
This company represents more than clothing to us.
It carries pieces of our story.
A mother's prayers.
A family's faith.
Years of ministry.
Lessons learned on the streets of Chicago.
Two sons raised to know that their lives have purpose.
A husband and wife praying together for God's direction.
And a willingness to follow when God placed something in our hearts before we completely understood what it would become.
That is the story behind F8TH Brand.
And in many ways, we're still writing it.
Thank you for allowing us to be part of your story.
We pray that every time you wear F8TH Brand, you're reminded not only of what you believe...
But of the One who made that belief possible.
Wear Your Faith Boldly.
Share Your Faith Without Saying a Word.
Take The Leap.
— Timothy & Monica Lacey
Co-Founders, F8TH Brand
Dedicated to the loving memory of Erma Lee Lacey.
The first person who taught Timothy what faith looked like—and whose prayers helped plant seeds that are still bearing fruit today.