Ottawa young people use clothing business to promote a lifestyle of surrender to Christ

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

In the last year, 23-year-old Tobi Oluwole has gone from losing his job to becoming the C.E.O. of his own business. The ambitious young man is part of a team of Christian young people behind SRNDR Clothing (pronounced “surrender”)—a Christian clothing design business that challenges young people to surrender their fears and live a life of purpose.

“Purpose is one of those words that is super general, but really means you wake up every morning excited to do something bigger than just work,” explains Oluwole.

The idea for SRNDR started with a fear, says Jacob Rutarindwa, who co-founded the business with Oluwole.

“I was in my room trying to figure out my life. To be honest I was a bit scared for the future, about what’s going to happen after school. I thought to myself, ‘A lot of other young people are thinking the same thing, so why not start something that not only helps me on my journey, but helps other people on their journey, too?’”

“To us, as Christians, surrender is what changed our lives.”

Inspired by his faith and the idea of surrendering to Christ, Rutarindwa came up with the first design and showed it to Oluwole, who was going through similar fears. Oluwole had just lost his job after the company he worked for went bankrupt.

“Surrender typically means putting your hands up and surrendering to the police or something. To us, as Christians, surrender is what changed our lives,” states Oluwole. “Surrender to God is how we started to live a life of freedom.”

Rather than just make clothes to encourage Christians, the pair wanted to also reach out to secular young people with the message of hope, purpose, and ultimately the message of Christ. They made their target market “20-somethings who are passionate about culture and curious about God”.

“Our mission and the message we are trying to bring is to surrender all that fear and wanting to control everything in your life and honestly let God take control of it,” explains Rutarindwa. “Tobi and I have done that in our lives. That’s why it matters so much to me, personally.”

“In some capacity, we are all leading something and the message [of surrender and purpose] is carried.”

SRNDR officially launched May 31, after Oluwole and Rutarindwa assembled a core team who are all living out the message their clothes preach. Including the two founders, the core team comprises seven young people, ages 21 to 25 years old. All of them were recruited from myChurch (soon to become Hillsong Ottawa).

“All of our team are leading something there [at myChurch],” Oluwole says. “In some capacity, we are all leading something and the message [of surrender and purpose] is carried. That’s why I chose the people I chose for our core team, because they are already doing that.”

In September, SRNDR plans to roll out a new line of clothes and merchandise, expanding on their message. They are calling the collection “Don’t believe the lie.” Rutarindwa says they recognize that surrender can be challenging because you come up against a lot of lies; lies like “You aren’t good enough,” “You don’t have what it takes,” or “You are too young.” Along with the merchandise, the team plans to launch a vlog.

“One of our first vlogs is going to be us conquering our fears,” says Oluwole. “I’m going to hold a snake, which I hate. All that stuff is going to address some of the lies that people tell themselves that stop them from doing what they really want to do.”

Ultimately, through their courage, they hope to point other young people to Christ.

“Through our boldness facing our fears, through our boldness as seven kids starting a business, it is our way of telling 20-somethings who are passionate about culture and curious about God that they should explore their curiosity. We want to show them that a life surrendered to God is not slavery, but freedom.”