First, a Joyous Blast of Organs

Go Get Em Tiger

The Arts District

A little after 10 in the morning on a Friday Faith in God has carried Andrew Chen and Johan Lam through their lives to this exact moment in time, sitting with me outside a coffee shop in Los Angeles. An overwhelming fear of God drove me for most of my life, and that's how I got here. When I say “fear of God," I don't mean “respect for God” or “sense of awe in the presence of God.” I mean constant, grinding anxiety punctuated by fits of outright panic, starting when I was five years old.

A pair of childhood discoveries―language and clothing―saved me from my fear. I built a citadel around my trembling heart with bad words and questionable fashion. (My wardrobe was heavy on silk shirts and Guess jeans.) The United Pentecostal Church laid siege to my childhood, but it couldn't scale my walls of fabric and speech. Upon leaving the Church at age 16, I converted my defenses into weapons. I stung Christians with words like a hornet tormenting Canaanites. I put on clothing like a lion circling the coliseum floor, in wait of screaming meat.

Childhood defenses begat adult weapons. Adult weapons, after years of fighting, begat an imperfect peace. These are the generations of my fear of God. Today they have prepared a table before me in the presence of my old enemies. I once would have counted our differences like stars in the sky, but Andrew and Johan express their faith via the same medium that I processed my fear: clothing, the concealer of body and flesh, the revelator of identity and spirit.

Verse One

The Old Rugged Ridiculous Cross

For years, a conspiracy-ish theory has circulated among online denim communities: On the back pockets of 3sixteen jeans, the runoff stitching forms a Christian cross. This is true, provided that you do the following: focus on the runoff stitching, also focus on the two sides of each pocket where the regular stitching intersects with the runoff stitching to form the cross, and ignore the regular stitching on the other three sides of each pocket, because if you look at that stitching, the cross disappears. It helps if you cover one eye.

The runoff stitching itself is tight and neat. It meets 3sixteen's high quality standards. However, the shape of the "cross" falls woefully short. The sides of the horizontal plank―where soldiers would have driven nails through Jesus' wrists or hands―are ridiculously lopsided. The top of the vertical post is left open, with no room for a placard reading INRI, but plenty of room, it would seem, for fanciful interpretations. No self-respecting Roman governor would have approved this thing for use in public executions, that's for sure. Still, to those who have eyes to strain, let them see. Seek and ye shall find.

Andrew Chen, who co-founded 3sixteen in 2003 with Johan Lam, says the "cross" is unintentional and purely coincidental. Neither he nor Johan see it. These comments will do little to convince 3sixteen critics, who by Andrew's reckoning have become more vocal in recent years―specifically regarding Andrew and Johan's shared faith. To be clear, Andrew and Johan do not feel persecuted. George Weckman, professor emeritus of religion at Ohio University, once assessed the ability of U.S. Christians to tolerate criticism by saying, "If you're on top, you should be able to take a little bit of shit." Andrew and Johan can take a little bit of shit. But, as we shall see, it would be easy for them to avoid shit-taking altogether. They essentially bring it on themselves. Why?

SOMEONE ELSE OK, so here's one thing I noticed on the Reddit AMAs: People would ask how you got the name 3sixteen. You would mention John 3:16 and briefly talk about your faith, but I didn’t see a lot of negativity around it. ANDREW 2013 was the first (AMA). We were both pleasantly surprised at the lack of negativity. Then this one that we just did, they played pretty nice, but I would say the last two years, there have been some negative comments about us and our brand and what we personally stand for. I was actually surprised for many years that it wasn't a bigger deal. Then, because maybe we'd gotten comfortable, (the recent criticism) was surprising. I would say that a good amount of our customers do not share our faith, probably most of them. There are always people who will say, Hey I buy from them not because of their belief in God but because they make products that I love and wear often, and I like their perspective, or their design work, and I even like the brand ideals, even though the origin of those ideals may not mirror my own.



It often balances out, but there's been more (negativity) as of late.

It Is Hell Within My Soul

I went to bed every night wondering if I would ever see Mom again.

Sometimes I woke up in the wee hours to pee. My first thought was, "Is Mom still here? Did the Rapture happen?" On my way down the hall to the bathroom, I would crane my neck inside my parents' bedroom. I was always relieved to see the outline of their sleeping bodies. But one of those nights, I knew, the bed would be empty. Turning on their light and pulling back the sheets, I would find two emptied pools of fabric: the lavender nightgown with white lace at the neck, and a pair of Dad's white boxer shorts with red pinstripes. These garments would have fallen away from Mom and Dad's glorified forms as they literally took flight, like Superman, out of their bed and through the roof, en route to Heaven. I knew all this because Mom, a trusted servant of God, guided newcomers to the United Pentecostal Church through a Bible Study course. She had a booklet with lots of drawings. The lesson on The Book of Revelation talked about the Rapture. There was a drawing of people in white robes, smiling as they flew like Superman towards a beaming Christ, who levitated in the clouds. At the bottom of the drawing, sinners were in Hell. They were screaming because they were on fire. None of the flying, smiling people looked back at the burning, screaming people.

Mom wouldn't look back, either.

There's Something About That Brand Name

On the 3sixteen website, the first sentence of the About page reads, “First and foremost, we are a denim company.” If denim is first and foremost, what is second and secondary? We already know about the subliminal cross. What else are they hiding? Subsequent copy on the About page discusses quality materials and manufacturing. The other boot finally drops in the fourth paragraph: "Our company's foundation is in our faith.” Ah-ha! Faith―sounds juicy! Alas, no details follow. Those hoping for 3sixteen to explain their "faith" by way of a supernatural God instead read about human decency. The copy states, "... humility and integrity are as important … as quality and design." Elsewhere, 3sixteen attributes its success to a larger community of "artists, craftsmen, and friends." Only with the final sentence does the brand hint about specifics, by way of an enigmatic reference to Matthew 20:16:



“3sixteen: the last shall be first.”



Suppose that 3sixteen made the following revisions to the About page: (a) delete “first and foremost,” (b) delete "the last shall be first" (and stop using the phrase elsewhere on the website and where it appears offline, like on the pocket bags of jeans), and (c) replace the word “faith” with “values.” In that case, nothing on the website—and indeed nothing related to the 3sixteen brand as a whole (besides the cross, of course)—would imply or indicate any religious or spiritual orientation.



Nothing except the name.

ANDREW 3sixteen was born from this idealistic perspective of wanting to create products that bring value to people's lives, specifically clothing, and wanting to do it where we didn't have to leave our faith behind. That's why the brand name is there. I didn’t know what kind of criticism it would bring, or what kind of encouragement it would bring to people.



Recently, I was like, What if we didn't name the brand 3sixteen? A graphic design firm was working on some things for us, and they were talking about how difficult it is to work with a brand when there's a number (in the brand's name mark) that’s taller than the letters. We were like, Maybe we should just scrap the 3sixteen name. If we did, would people have any chance of knowing our faith? JOHAN It makes it so that we can't hide behind the guise of something else. That’s why sometimes we wish the name were different. It would be easier. I guess to us, the name is very obvious, so it forces us to act a certain way. I think it is a check. And certainly there were times in the history of our company where it would have been easier if it weren't the name.

SOMEONE ELSE Usually with a brand name, it exists to convey an idea to the public. Is the 3sixteen name for the public, or for you guys? ANDREW It exposes us in certain ways. Wanting to operate the business with integrity: Those are heavy words. That is a very, very difficult thing to do when there is a temptation to take a shortcut. Generally I sleep pretty well, but I did have sleep problems for a couple of years. I didn't know how we were going to pay certain invoices. Every day you go back into work and you look at the bank account, and it really is not happening yet. There are definitely opportunities to do business a little differently. We said we're going to try and operate the business (with integrity). There really isn't any other option. JOHAN Sometimes I get a little nervous when people are shouting about their faith. I try not to shout. I'm nervous about being so forthright about it because I don't know if I can live up to that. I would rather, on the personal end, have that in order, and whatever happens on the exterior, let people find out.

Verse 2thirtyeight

It Was Good Enough for Momma

If religion is the opiate of the people, apostolic Pentecostalism is their methamphetamine.

When they get a blast of this old-time religion, the people dance in the Spirit, arms and legs flailing in an ecstatic thrashing of flesh against Flesh. They roll on the ground (thus the term “Holy Roller”). They sprint around the edges of the sanctuary with their eyes wide and teeth chattering. Their young men see visions. Their old men hallucinate, too. They pray without ceasing until their outstretched arms ache, their faces goes numb, and their hearing narrows into a prolonged squeal, like in the movies when someone slowly regains consciousness following a nearby explosion. Those are signs that the Spirit is moving. That's when you might speak in tongues. And you had better speak in tongues. If you don't speak in tongues before the Rapture takes place, you will burn in Hell for all eternity. That's why Mom would fly, fly away one day soon, and I would be left behind. She had spoken in tongues and I hadn't. When Gabriel sounded his trumpet―which could happen at any time: morning, night, or noon―the Dead in Christ would rise. The Dead in Christ included physically dead people, who would fly out of their coffins toward Heaven, and also living Christians (limited to apostolic Pentecostals) who had earned salvation by doing the following work:

Repented for their sins (death to the flesh)

Been baptized by immersion in water (burial of the flesh)

Spoken in tongues (resurrection in Christ)

In Acts 2:38, Peter advises a gathering of first-generation Christians to repent and be baptized, "and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." The United Pentecostal Church bases its entire doctrine on that single verse. The Church believes that speaking in tongues indicates reception of the Holy Ghost. Here's the thing: You can complete the Acts 2:38 trifecta and still go to Hell. That's because the dead flesh constantly comes back to life. When the zombie hand of your Worldly self emerges from the spiritual grave, you must kill it again immediately. You do that by repenting.

Every time you find yourself looking at Mrs. Kight’s chest in English Forgive me

Every time you enjoy Top 40 radio on the school bus Forgive me

Every time you laugh at a dirty joke or one of your buddy Jeramy's drawings of cartoon characters in flagrante delicto Forgive me.

Looking at Kim Bassinger in Playboy forgive me looking at African tribeswomen in old National Geographics forgive me looking at nudes in art books forgiveme watching warped green breasts on scrambled Cinemax forgiveme thinking about sex abstractly with honest curiosiforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeorgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeorgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgiveme You are eight years old.

SOMEONE ELSE Johan, in the 2013 Reddit AMA, you talked about the idea of "the last shall be first," and how you made yourself last to escape the rat race. When I think of “the last shall be first,” I think of the Beatitudes: “The meek shall inherit the Earth.” I've always thought about that as coming from colonizers or politicians, like, Don't rise up, because after you're dead it's gonna be great. And the worse it is here for you, the better it will be when you’re dead. JOHAN Yes, don't work as hard, don't be as worldly, right? Don't try and get rich. SOMEONE ELSE Right, don't question why you have so little. ANDREW And it's always coming from a position of power. SOMEONE ELSE The way you talked about “the last shall be first," it's active, not passive. How does that work? JOHAN We try to not always put the company completely first. When we release products, we give our retailers a one-week jump before we release them on our website. If all we cared about was 3sixteen, that's not a very good strategy. Potentially a lot of people that were going to buy the products already bought them through their local (retailer), right? If we were purely focused on 3sixteen—you know, ruthless businessmen—we would give ourselves a week jump, but we do the opposite. Sure, in the end, it still benefits 3sixteen if our retailers are doing well selling our products, and we're helping that. It's not like our intentions are 100 percent pure.

It just helps us look at all things a little bit differently, and to try and do things a little bit differently when possible. We don't have (”the last shall be first”) hanging on our wall in the warehouse or in the office or anything, but it kind of informs what we do as a business. I think it's just part of how we live our lives. We try to put others ahead of ourselves. We're going to fail at it more often than not, and sometimes it is easier to do on an interpersonal side than a business side. It's part of what we feel is important with our relationship with Christ, and so we try as much as possible to align those details.

Verse Three

This Soul-Crushing Plight of Mine

GLOSSOLALIA

I knelt next to Robbie O'Bannon at the altar.

We were praying for the Holy Ghost. Men gathered around us.

The preacher told Robbie, "Just tell Him what you want." Robbie said: Jesus give me the Holy Ghost ...

Jezuz gimmetha Holy Ghose ...

Yushuh gemmee duh Heely Gast ...

Yoosuh geb mir dem Heyluh Gaast ..

Yoshke gebn mir dem Heylik Gayst ... All the men shouted, loud, honest shouts of pure joy.

I stopped praying but kept my head down. God had given Robbie the gift of the Holy Ghost. I couldn't bear to watch the men hug Robbie and shake his hand. That was the real gift of speaking in tongues: regular human acceptance. Words were in fact magic. I just couldn't learn this particular trick, no matter how hard I tried. COPROLALIA

I sat next to Mom on the school bus.

She was chaperoning a field trip. Bart Gable sat behind us.

Bart told a kid, “Say ‘born on a pirate ship’ five times fast.” The kid said: Born on a pirate ship ...

Born onna piruh ship ...

Born onna piruh shuh ...

Born onna pilah shih ...

Born on a pile of shit ... All the kids laughed, loud, honest laughs of pure joy.

Mom clucked her tongue. I looked out the window to hide my beaming smile. I listened to laughter wrap around Bart and the other kid like sheltering arms. The sun shone on my face and warmed me to the innermost. Words were in fact magic. And I already knew this kind of spelling.

SOMEONE ELSE In an interview, you guys said it's impossible to ethically make a $40 pair of jeans. How does faith fit into this side of things?

JOHAN When people first hear that we're Christian and then see the price tags of the products that we make, oftentimes the initial reaction is like the flipping of the merchants tables, like, You guys are using your faith to rip people off and sell these products at astronomical prices. In reality, cheap products come at a human cost. But our country is addicted to cheap. The race for making products as cheap as possible has really hurt everybody. This is not a healthy thing for our economy as a whole. Price is always a sensitive issue. We try to really price things logically, based on hard numbers, and not because we think we can get a certain amount for that item, or because we're trying to make it or sell it as cheaply as possible. You charge what a logical, normal market calls for, depending on what it costs.

ANDREW That actually came up in the comment section of the interview we did with Reach Records, which is a Christian hip-hop record label. They interview people that they felt were living their faith in the work that they do. In the Facebook comments, (there was) a lot of like, Get these swindlers out of here; Jesus would smack them in the face.

SOMEONE ELSE So, you guys kind of catch criticism from both sides? You're either too Christian or not Christian enough. ANDREW It's a weird place to be. JOHAN It's a sensitive topic. To some people we're selling things at far too high of a cost. But then on the flip side, for people who understand the industry a little bit more, if we sold things at H&M prices, there (would be) criticism, too, right?

When the Class Roll Is Called

The "pirate ship" revelation transformed me into the sweariest child at Shade Elementary. I was quick to call out classmates whom I considered to be numbnuts, shit-for-brains, and fartgobblers. I also started writing little stories at church during Wednesday night Bible Study services. (High-octane stuff like speaking in tongues usually happened on Sunday nights; Wednesday nights were all about begats and Beatitudes.) The sanctified language of King James and the profanity of public school mixed into a weird alloy, in equal measures precious and septic. To this day it's how I naturally speak and write. Then in sixth grade, a classmate mocked me for wearing the same clothes two days in a row. I had no idea that clothing mattered. The UPC's Holiness Standards, which were written by men, mandate strict dress requirements for women, but men can pass unnoticed in the World. You might look weird wearing jeans in summer (God hates shorts), but that's about it. As my classmate and his friends laughed at my clothing, I was awestruck.

If wearing clothing the wrong way gets me laughed at, I wondered,

what would happen if I wore clothing the right way?

I began studying the appearance of other kids, especially the details: the fearful symmetry of a bowl cut; a braided leather belt, purchased extra-long to knot and leave dangling at the waist. I started to change how I dressed. The other kids noticed. They asked me how to French-roll jeans and coil the laces of Eastbay camp mocs. In ninth-grade home room, Ray Scott―Ray freaking Scott, the most popular kid in the entire freshman class!―struck up a conversation with me about my faux crocodile loafers. The pastor of my church pulled me aside after service one night. He said, "Don't follow the fads with clothing. Be your own person." I nodded and walked away without saying anything, but this is what I was thinking:

My shoes got Ray Scott to talk to me. What have you ever done for me, numbnuts?

SOMEONE ELSE A cynical person could say, A-ha! 3sixteen is just a trap. It's no different than ... like, in my high-school, these body-builders showed up one day. We got out of class and went to the gym and there were these jacked-up dudes blowing up hot-water bottles until they exploded and tearing phone books in half. It was wild. Well, they had a show at some place in Athens that night. One of my classmates went to it. The next day, he was like, Yeah, the whole thing was about Jesus. They were allowed to perform at our school as long as they left Jesus out of it. But that was their real M.O., to get us to their event so they could share their testimony.

People could say that you guys are the same. You're just missionaries, offering one thing, in your case clothing, but you have this secret agenda to share the love of Jesus or whatever. JOHAN Yeah, but if I weren't making jeans, that would be the case for anything I made. From a young age I was taught a little bit about Christian history. There had been a shift away from trying to do cultural and artistic things as Christians. The only way you could really be excellent is to, like, go and become a youth pastor. But there are so many culturally impactful things that Christians in general had kind of shied away from and didn't push their youth towards. I feel like it's important for me to show young people, young Christians especially, that you can impact culture, you can do whatever it is that you're gifted to do really well. And that's OK. Follow your passion to design video games; there are ways to be impactful without purely going the route of being a youth pastor or becoming a missionary.



Onward! Christian War Criminals

The Crusades are too obvious. Ditto the Inquisition and modern-day Catholic priests. Self-proclaimed followers of Jesus are used to defending themselves against that stuff. Allow me to suggest a few deeper anti-Christian cuts:

the forced conversion of Native Americans via a brutal (re)education system, explicitly designed to "Kill the Indian, save the man,"

the Albigensian Crusade, which is both obscure and French, making you sound doubly sophisticated when yelling at new acquaintances about it at a friend's birthday dinner,

Catholic death camps in Vietnam, and

the complicity of Christians in American slavery.

Back in the day of internet relay chat, a mIRC channel operator and I decided to take our burgeoning relationship offline, with a phone call. When she casually mentioned going to church, I launched into a tirade about Christianity's history of sins, and expressed my grave disappointment in her for subscribing to such vapid mythology. Before she hung up on me, she started crying.

I couldn't have been prouder.

The 1995 version of me would have confronted the 2020 version of 3sixteen with some Cold Hard Facts. No pair of jeans―no matter how rare the denim! no matter how sick the fades!―can wipe from history the murder of Hypatia, the philosopher and mathematician who was skinned alive by a Christian mob in the year 415. Oh, you've collaborated with famed Canadian footwear brand Viberg on a Scout Boot featuring supple latigo roughout leather and the scored flex points of a Vibram Gloxi-Cut wedge sole? Well, what about Charlemagne beheading 4500 Saxons who refused to convert to Christianity at the Massacre of Verden? What about that, guys? But eventually, somewhere between 1995 and 2020, I stopped blaming innocent members of a given group for actions attributable to the entire group. These actions might include dismemberment and beheadings, or they might include colonization, military imperialism, and constant meddling at the highest levels of foreign governments. If I had to guess, I'd say this change happened right around the autumn of 2001. "Judge not," as it were.

Also, the cliche about time's curative properties have proven true for me. My damage healed with passing years. I still doubted. I just didn't have any open wounds to poke at.

SOMEONE ELSE To be a Christian, do you have to be interested in changing people's minds about Christianity? What's the ultimate goal, I guess? JOHAN I personally am not very aggressive about those sorts of things unless someone wants to have a conversation with me. But I think it's still important to live your life in a certain way that sparks people's interest. It may bring up that conversation about why we do what we do, why we care so much about what we do, what inspires us to make what we make. It's just being honest. If people ask us, Why do you care so much; why do you strive so hard to make good products? I can be truthful about the reason. But if we don't make a good product, nobody's ever going to ask that question.

SOMEONE ELSE Is the idea something like: attraction, not promotion? JOHAN I don't personally find the corner soapbox preacher very effective, but they obviously believe in what they're doing. I don't think at the core their intentions are bad, but ultimately, is what you're doing effective?

ANDREW And is it effective with the people you know and you love and care about? I get humbled sometimes. You get on the subway and someone will come in and start sharing about Jesus, and as a Christian, this wave of shame might pass over you like, you know, Not again―but this happened recently, and the lady shared her story and she shared about getting delivered from addictions, and my heart was moved, and someone stopped her and asked for prayer. So, who am I to say how someone should share about what is most important to them, short of negative ways? We know there are negative ways. We talked about authenticity. For someone to know that we follow Christ, that's being authentic. It's important to us. It informs how we try to raise our kids and love our wives. SOMEONE ELSE So, if you guys tried to hide that, you would be inauthentic.

ANDREW I mean, coming back to your question, what is the goal here? I think our goal is to make really good jeans, and for people to be thrilled with their purchases, and to be available and accessible to our customers, and to have the freedom to share with them that which is important to us, and it comes through many different ways. It comes through with "Singularities," (a 3sixteen website feature about) people who inspire us to do better. It comes through with our network of entrepreneurs and small businesses that we like to support in our local neighborhoods. Every single part of what you do here at 3:16 is important, even if it feels mundane. You might feel like it's fine to just chuck (products) in a box and seal it, but think about the person who's receiving it. If you're having a bad day, and you're just trying to get it done, that is going to translate when someone opens that box.

SOMEONE ELSE So, faith is not just one aspect of how you do business, it's everything? ANDREW If your faith means anything to you, whatever your faith is, I assume that it should affect every effort, every endeavor.

Coda: 3,000 Versions of Jesus

I don't know which version of Jesus inspires 3sixteen. I don't even know if Andrew and Johan believe in the same version. Do the guys attend the same denomination of church? Are they pre- or post-Millennial? Pre- or post-Tribulation? Oneness or Trinity? I made it a point not to ask.

The 3sixteen Jesus is most likely not the neo-America version who belongs to the NRA, loves war, and despises the marginalized groups for whom He so fiercely advocated in the Bible. He's definitely not the neurotic control-freak worshiped by the United Pentecostal Church. Mysteries of the Godhead aside, my visit with Andrew and Johan helps flesh out the faith mentioned in the 3sixteen About page. The brand's faith doesn't shout. It doesn't thrash about in an ecstatic, self-induced trance. It does not insist on itself. To the best of my knowledge, it does not frighten children with threats of eternal hellfire. It is quiet, sometimes to the point of being mundane. It softly drums in the background, happy to keep time as the saints go marching in. Sideshow geeks like Benny Hinn "speak in tongues" in megachurches, while Jim Bakker sells five-gallon buckets of mashed potatoes and TWENTY YEAR SHELF-LIFE PIZZA. Countless other grifters hang for-sale ornaments on the Tree of Life. Andrew and Johan are happy to tend the soil, water the roots, and content themselves with whatever fruit falls from the branches.

Corporations and entrepreneurs alike have spent the last several years whipping up "lifestyle marketing" and retrofitting it onto their existing companies.

Ornaments on the Tree.

Faith is the 3sixteen lifestyle. If you remove style, faith remains the 3sixteen life. It is a belief in the supernatural, but it clarifies the ordinary: which fabric mills will ship how much of what material, how seamstresses sew, what collaborations go into production, when products ship to retailers, how to approach late payments, whether (when on a family road trip) Andrew should take a two-hour detour so his son can see an old school friend who moved away, how much to tip the mail carrier for the holidays. Maybe―maybe―in the deep recesses of Andrew and Johan's unconscious minds, their faith subliminally influences design signatures, like a "cross" on the back pockets of blue jeans or (wake up, sheeple!) the crossed yoke on their Type 3 jacket. The faith of 3sixteen―their evidence of things not seen―might pertain to eternity, but it applies to every day.

Humility and integrity. Basic human decency.

Fruit from the branch.

If you want to understand 3sixteen, start with denim. If you want to understand John 3:16, start with Andrew and Johan.