Our Story

Welcome to Malta Apparel! My name is Kyle Hildebrand, founder and owner, along with my wife, Jacklyn Hildebrand.

Together, we run all business-related operations here at Malta Apparel, which is our act of faith to completely surrender to the Lord and His will for our lives, using our adventure both to spread His Word and commit our corporate profits to do good for others, not ourselves. We never truly knew what it meant to let Him “have His way” with us and provide for our needs, if we just trusted Him completely; now, we know, since we’ve dedicated our Malta ministry entirely to Him. God used my passion for fashion and creativity, which I had never unlocked or knew was there, to spark a fire in my soul, inspiring me to fashion this apparel ministry to praise Him and benefit others. Malta’s motto is essentially built off the premise that we are going to go through trials, and it is how we turn our trials into opportunities to bless others.

The Biblical story that inspired the creation of Malta Apparel is found in Acts 27-28, where the Apostle Paul is shipwrecked on the island of Malta on his way to Rome as a prisoner. This occurs after repeated warnings from Paul, urging the ship’s officers to postpone the departure from Crete, warning them of shipwreck and loss of cargo due to dangerous weather. Once thrown overboard and shipwrecked himself, Paul, the other prisoners, and crew mates were welcomed graciously by the islanders of Malta, who showered them with kindness. Paul then helped to build a fire, but as he placed some brushwood on the fire, a viper fastened itself to his hand. He then shook the snake from his hand into the fire. He suffered no harm from the venomous bite, and the islanders were astonished and praised him, some referring to him as a god. They told the chief official of the island what had happened. The chief official then invited Paul to his estate, where he discovered the official’s father had been sick in bed for a long period of time. Paul immediately visited the father, prayed over him, placed his hand onto him and healed him. After hearing of this, the rest of the sick and lame on the island came to Paul and were healed.

The main lesson from this story for our Christian clothing ministry is to remind us that our personal struggles can always be used by God to bless others and ourselves, especially if we maintain a servant's heart and positive attitude. If Paul had not been caught in a tremendous storm, heaved overboard by the wind and waves, swam to shore in the cold of winter, bitten by a viper, and maintained a servant's heart through it all, he would have never had the opportunity to bless the people of Malta, nor would he have also been reminded of the amazing things God can do through us amid our hardships in life, which we all experience periodically. Another lesson from the Malta miracle: Maintaining a firm faith in The Lord and trusting He has a greater plan and purpose for us than we can conceive. This grants us peace and contentment through the darkest of storms, as God turns our pain to purpose, valleys to victory, and trials to triumph.

We now run the business, based out of Arizona, with a growing team of employees. Through Malta’s profits, we are committed to giving back to others, as God has given so generously to us.

Thus, we pledged to devote a percentage of our profits to help deserving, charitable causes for Christ and loving people. We will be updating this page over time with new information on where this money is allocated. So far, this is what your support of our business has accomplished and is accomplishing:

• About 10% of our proceeds are donated to non-profit organizations with diverse methods of loving and serving people. The organizations Malta Apparel currently supports are:
  • 4% of proceeds donated to Fight the New Drug, whose aim is to "decrease the demand for sexual exploitation through education while helping individuals live empowered lives free from the harmful effects of pornography".
  • 4% of proceeds donated to Love Justice International, who helps intercept potential victims of human trafficking as they cross borders. By monitoring strategic transit points, LJI identifies human trafficking networks to stop trafficking as it occurs. They have intercepted over 25,000 individuals and helped authorities arrest over 1,000 suspects to date.
  • 1% of proceeds are donated to CARE.org, an organization who fights global poverty and world hunger.
  • 20% of proceeds from the God Is With Us Neon Orange Trucker Hats are donated to Prison Fellowship Ministries, with a goal of putting more bibles into inmate's hands, and hope into prisons. This ends up equating to about 1% of total proceeds.
• We have donated hundreds of shirts and hats to kids in need, living in low income communities. This is accomplished through partnership with Plus One Ministry, who hosts regular mobile closet pop-ups for kids in projects and low income communities.

We pray this clothing isn't just another brand that makes cool designs to spark conversations about Jesus, but that it also blesses others in need.

God bless you all!

 

Kyle and Jacklyn