Christian retailers and suppliers are using unconventional methods to tap into the next generation--seen as "vital" for the faith-based product industry's future.

They are connecting with the young adult market through social-media networking, street teams that promote brand marketing and a twentysomething entrepreneur who champion Christian retail.

CBA Chairman George Thomsen said of the younger generation that "they are tomorrow's parents and customers." "Investing time and resources in them makes sense, and will pay dividends down the road."

Thomsen applauded the "creative thinking" behind Wear it Wednesday, launched earlier this year by 22-year-old Chelsea Eubank. The youth-focused campaign aims to recruit a million Christians to wear their favorite Christian T-shirts each Wednesday as a way of coming together to share and proclaim their faith.

Already more than 250,000 people nationwide as well as New Zealand and Spain have joined the effort, which attracted leading apparel company Kerusso as its lead sponsor this spring.

Having started her own Marietta, Ga.-based Christian clothing company, Faithful Fish, at age 17, Eubank partnered with Kerusso because "my generation would see right through it if they felt this was a marketing ploy to sell (my) shirts. I thought that going to another apparel company would show everyone my heart for this movement."

Kerusso Vice President of Marketing Chris Rainey said Wear it Wednesday "gives retailers an amazing opportunity to promote to their community that they are the destination for Christian T-shirts."

Read the complete report in the November issue of Christian Retailing magazine.

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