NEWS FEATURE: Teen Twins Fill Niche With Original Line of Christian T-Shirts

c. 2003 Religion News Service MADISON, Ala. _ Even though identical twins Alina and Ariana Xicotencatl are only 15, they’re already world travelers. And businesswomen. The twins were born in California but spent more than two years living in the United Arab Emirates, a tiny country on the Persian Gulf near the southeast tip of […]

c. 2003 Religion News Service

MADISON, Ala. _ Even though identical twins Alina and Ariana Xicotencatl are only 15, they’re already world travelers. And businesswomen.

The twins were born in California but spent more than two years living in the United Arab Emirates, a tiny country on the Persian Gulf near the southeast tip of Saudi Arabia. They moved to this Huntsville bedroom community eight years ago with their mom, Felicia Beaulieu, and her husband, Leon Beaulieu, who works in international trade.


Alina _ the oldest by a couple of minutes _ and Ariana hope to follow in their dad’s footsteps when it comes to international business with their own fledgling company: Double Impact. They design T-shirts primarily for Christian organizations or individuals.

“I want people to be influenced by our T-shirts and for our company to become as known as Hilfiger or some other company like that,” Alina said. “I would like to go to New York and find some big (financial) person who would invest in our company. We just have to be in the right place at the right time.”

The girls are designing a sports camp T-shirt for Camp Thunderbird, a Christian camp sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn. If camp officials agree to purchase the girls’ T-shirts, it could be an order of nearly 200 shirts.

The twins, who are Seventh-day Adventists, have also made T-shirts for the Adventist South Central Conference in Atlanta, the denomination’s youth organizations and the wife of gospel recording artist Tonex, as well as jackets with angel designs for the Christian group Virtue, which has a hit song, “Angels Watching Over Me.”

So far, the only investor in Double Impact is their stepfather, whom they call “Dad” since he began helping raise them when they were 3.

“Dad” said he “has no idea” how much money he has invested. The chief financial officer _ his wife _ quickly said $8,000 without looking at the books. So they have to sell scores of shirts before they can even think of making a profit.

Some of the girls’ T-shirt designs have teen-agers with slogans such as “Don’t Mess with Me _ God’s Property,” or “When God Made Me _ He Was Showing Off.” They also use a number of angel designs, and they have a line of men’s wear: PHAAT (Praising Him At All Times).


Until recently, the twins were making the T-shirts “the old-fashioned way,” according to their mom, who helps with the graphics as well as the financial aspect of the business. Now they are using a laptop computer to make their designs.

“No more taking things to Kinko’s to have them copied,” Felicia Beaulieu said. “It has been a huge learning experience for all of us.”

They credit another T-shirt artist with giving them free designing advice that others in the business wanted to sell.

“When we went to shows in other cities, we tried to ask other people there about their knowledge of the business, but they would just say it would cost us for that information,” their mother said.

The girls often design the T-shirts together, but occasionally venture out on their own. They first got the idea for their business while attending an Adventist Youth Congress in Indianapolis three years ago.

“People were selling T-shirts, and we went to four different booths and they were all the same,” Alina said.


“They had all adults and children, but none in between, so that’s when we got the idea (for the business),” Ariana said.

“We had already been drawing designs. It was just a matter of putting them on the T-shirts,” Alina added.

The T-shirts are designed primarily for ages 9 to 19, but anyone can wear them, Felicia Beaulieu said. “I do.”

Their mother first noticed her daughters’ artistic talents when they were 4.

“They started coloring and drawing a lot, and I kept telling them to `Stay inside the lines,”’ she said of the girls who have been home-schooled most of their lives but will attend a public high school this year as freshmen.

Right now, the business is just breaking even, with shirts selling for $10 or $12 each.

Their stepfather believes he’s making a wise, albeit costly, investment.

“No matter what you do, you have to know how to do business whether you work for yourself or someone else,” Leon Beaulieu said. “This will give them a leap ahead.”


The girls hope their business not only prepares them for whatever field they enter as adults but serves to spread the gospel as well.

“I want it to be a witness, and I also hope to learn how to manage money and invest it wisely,” Ariana said.

AMB END BETOWT

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