Our Story

Hey y’all! Welcome to Malta Apparel. My name is Kyle Hildebrand, founder and owner. My wife, Jacklyn Hildebrand, and I together run all operations here at Malta (for now). Malta Apparel was inspired by a season I went through where I had finally completely surrendered to the Lord and His will for my life. I had never completely surrendered everything over to Him until this season. I never truly knew what it meant to let Him “have His way” in me and die completely to the desires of my flesh. Late September 2020, I was prophesied over on multiple occasions with the main premise being “Business” “Leadership” “Media” and “Creativity”. Another word given to me was that I am going to be shown a fast-flowing river that looks scary and overwhelming, but God is asking me to just give Him my yes and jump in and trust Him. I had no idea what any of this meant at the time, but on October 8th, 2020, I had a vivid dream that awoke me at 2am and prompted me to start jotting down pages of notes of things God was speaking to me from that dream. To summarize, the dream consisted of me fixing a broken bracelet, and in the process, being so upset that it was just a plain bracelet, I broke down crying and talking to a man, saying “Why can’t God be included on this bracelet?”. The man (who God showed me to be Rick Warren, the author) then asked me “why don’t you do something about it?” I woke up with God pressing a revelation hard into my spirit. God used my passion for fashion and creativity that I had never unlocked or even known was there to spark a fire in my soul, directing me into my purpose. The brand’s motto is essentially built off the premise that we are going to go through trials, and it is how we handle these trials that influences the story that ends up being written.

Malta Apparel was inspired by the story 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, as he specifically warned of shipwreck and loss of cargo due to dangerous weather. Once thrown overboard and shipwrecked, 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 Paul discovered his father had been sick in bed for a long period of time. Paul immediately visited the father, prayed over him, placed his hand that had been bitten by the snake 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. One of the main lessons from this story this clothing line serves to give confidence in and remind people of is that our struggles and trials we endure will ALWAYS be used by God to bless others and ourselves... especially if we maintain a servants 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 servants 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 in the midst of our suffering. Another lesson to take from this story is the attitude and posture we must take when enduring trials of all kinds. Maintaining a firm faith in The Lord and trusting He has a greater plan and purpose grants us peace and contentment through the darkest of valleys, while also making an impact on those around us who may be carefully watching how we respond to these valleys. God turns pain to purpose, valleys to victory, and trials to triumph.

My wife Jacklyn and I now run the business together, based out of Arizona and we have SO much more in store. We are patient in the waiting and process we believe God has us in learning to trust in Him as our provider, and we know this will bless millions of people for Christ.

Welcome to Malta.