Meet our Fellows

Putting a human face on clothing

What does it mean to be “clothed in righteousness”? For Lizzy Case, it’s an ethic that is not only a lifestyle, but a business model.

Case is a writer, theologian, and founder of Arrayed, a liberative people-first, planet-focused Christian apparel brand that aims to align the call for justice and wholistic flourishing found in Jesus’ life with the messages on and production of Christian t-shirts. 

The vision of Arrayed is to produce socially and environmentally conscious apparel while investing in organizations that further liberation of women and marginalized communities. Arrayed T-shirts offer slogans such as ‘Black Lives are Sacred,” “God’s pronouns are ‘Theirs, His, Hers”, and “Let justice flow down like a river.” The shirts are size inclusive, and offer Christians the opportunity to align their values with their clothing purchases. 

About Lizzy Case

Case learned early about the interconnectedness of our global world. She lived in Japan for 3 years as a child. Her father is from the UK and her only brother grew up there. Her grandfather was an Army chaplain. “I didn’t go to one school for longer than two years. I was constantly the new kid. We visited our family overseas a lot. I felt more related to folks who didn’t feel like they fit in. I was always the one on the outside. That kind of skewed my attention, even from a young age, toward who’s not included, who’s sitting on the side.” 

Case went to North Park University in Chicago and majored in Biblical studies but minored in business. “My mom was a finance director at a large automotive company in Detroit. She said, ‘If you're going to get a Biblical Studies degree, you also have to get a business minor.” Case rounded out her education with classes in peace studies and conflict transformation.

 After a traumatic ending to a difficult relationship, Case found herself on the fringes of the conservative evangelical church community where she had been deeply involved. Those teachings began to unravel and she found herself opening up to a more progressive theology and practice.

When Case inherited her grandmother’s sewing machine, she found a new path forward. In her blog, she writes, “In the summer of 2013, I learned to sew. I had just gotten out of a 6-year relationship that left me reeling from the effects of my partner’s abuse, untreated mental illness, and self-harm.”

Sewing and making her own clothes became a therapeutic and healing process. “The creative act of transforming a two dimensional fabric into a three dimensional something was just really incredible. I felt I had discovered this secret world. It was an incredibly healing in the wake of the huge upheaval in my life.”

At the same time, Case learned about the harsh realities of garment workers around the world, mostly women of color. In 2013, an industrial disaster in Bangladesh became a tipping point for Case.

In Dhaka, Bangladesh, the fashion industry experienced the largest industrial disaster in its history when an 8-story garment manufacturing building collapsed, killing over 1,100 people and injuring 2100.  Case blogged  “This entirely preventable tragedy, known as the Rana Plaza disaster, launched a global movement for transparency and reform, and I found myself wanting to be part of the fight for basic human rights and environmental justice.”

Case decided to go back to seminary. “The first year of seminary was like theological therapy. It was unlearning and re-learning a lot of the things I had absorbed when I was caught up in the traditional conservative evangelical world. It felt like a return to my own milieu – the kind of broad minded, leftist, citizen of the world ideas I had grown up with. “

While at Garret-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Case began developing sustainability for the school and took a position after graduation as a sustainability coordinator, managing the successful implementation of the seminary’s Green Seminary Certification action plan. Her thesis, titled ‘Clothed in Righteousness: Clothing as Ecological Right Relationship to God, the Earth, and Others,’ echoed her commitment to working for environmental justice and human rights.

After finding a lack of jobs in the sustainable fashion world, Case began working on her own as a sustainability and ethics consultant at the end of 2020. “Through most of 2021. I was working with faith-oriented clothing businesses to incorporate sustainability ethics into their products and communications.” 

As Case researched the industry, she realized there were no Christian t-shirts that were progressive and inclusive in their messaging and theology, and that also prioritized ethical and sustainable manufacturing. “That really surprised me. And that’s how Arrayed was born. It feels like the truest expression of this vocation around human rights, climate justice, faith, and clothing that I have found to live into.”

About Arrayed

Case began to research producing apparel in “the most socially, economically, and environmentally responsible ways possible.” After an ethical fashion focused trip to the Philippines, Case connected with a Manila-based design and manufacturing collective to bring her ideas to life. The TELAstory Collective focuses on giving more power and better profit to the women who actually sew the high-quality t-shirts. “The collective is committed to climate justice, but also to a living wage and zero waste. I’ve witnessed their integrity and commitment to these things over the years.”

Case also focused on producing T-shirts with progressive Christian slogans. In her blog, Case writes “The Christian apparel industry is a $4.5 billion industry annually, yet many of the current options don’t offer progressive theological messaging or transparency about their production process. Progressive Christians deserve to be visible in the broader Christian landscape.”

Arrayed continues to invest some of their profits into their own supply chain to work toward an equitable and sustainable long-term partnership. 

Case continues to live out the words of her seminary thesis. “This metaphor around what it means to be clothed in righteousness is really close to my heart. I’m trying to connect loving your neighbor and what Jesus meant when he talked about who is our neighbor. Putting a human face on clothing is really important. I don’t think people realize that all clothing is made by human hands. No matter where you get it there are always multiple human hands involved.”

In an article she authored for Word and Way entitled “Loving Our Neighbor Means Thinking About the People Behind Our Clothes,” Case writes about thinking globally about the Christian mandate to love your neighbor.

“This mandate of our Christian faith stands at stark odds with the current situation of many garment workers. Ongoing research shows that no major brand can prove that all workers in their supply chain earn a living wage, whether fast fashion or luxury apparel. And raising worker wages just $100 per week (about what’s needed to reach a living wage in Bangladesh and India), would immediately cut 65.3 million metric tons of CO2 out of the global economy, according to new research. Paying workers more wouldn’t break the bank for brands either. One study shows that a living wage in India, for example, only adds 20 cents to the cost of a t-shirt.”

Case hopes her business will become a catalyst for larger conversations with the Christian church about environmental justice and human rights. 

“Hope is a discipline for me. It’s a practice. It’s not something I necessarily feel all the time, but it is something I am committed to practicing, and I'm disciplined to do so.  At the heart of it, I don’t believe that death has the final say. Resurrection, hope, and God’s deep abiding love, have the last words.

I want to provide a clothing experience for everyone that aligns your whole person from the inside out. What you’re wearing reflects what you’re committed to and who you are in the world. It just feels authentic. That’s what keeps me going.'“