I Already Applied at Altard State but How Can I Apply Again

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There are currently 59 Altar'd Country locations sprinkled throughout the South and Midwest, in nineteen different states. The visitor's website details its history, which began with a single "mod Christian retail store" in Knoxville, Tennessee. Information technology claims to " donate a full of 1% of all sales to local and international charities" and "fund employee volunteer hours each calendar month." Despite its large footprint (59 stores! xix states!), y'all can't find out much more about the brand than what I've simply told you. This, my editor tells me, is a story.

So I contact corporate headquarters in Knoxville. They initially seem receptive to participating in this story, but subsequently four weeks of back and along, the visitor's home office withdraws its cooperation. The questions I sent over elicited "hesitations" from the leadership team, my point of contact explains in her last, atoning email.

And so I achieve out to 26 current and former Altar'd Land employees for more data. All 26 either flat-out reject or ignore my pleas to briefly chat. I badly want to talk to someone, anyone, with a direct connexion to the company. Only no one at Chantry'd State wants to talk. Well, some desire to talk — but they can't, legally speaking. They've all signed an NDA.

Photo: Altar'd State

Every bit a reporter, yous train for this sort of reluctance when covering covert military action, the sex lives of political figures, or Star Wars plot rumors. But what does a habiliment company that trades in moderately-priced blouses and wood blocks posterized with inoffensive truisms have to hibernate? Chantry'd State seems innocuous plenty, if not wholly well-intentioned.

What little information, criticism, or even news at that place is out there about the company, in the bowels of the internet, is limited to local news sites, personal blogs, and job listing aggregators. If the company does have anything to hide, it's the 2.iv rating information technology holds on Glassdoor, a vast company review database that archives millions of employee-submitted evaluations.

"If you want an authentic representation of the visitor, the reviews on Glassdoor are pretty spot-on," a erstwhile employee who requested anonymity tells me. "To be honest with you lot, I used to believe in everything Altar'd State stood for every bit a company. All the same, after working in that location for iv years, I no longer practice. If you desire a positive outlook on the company, I won't be a skilful person to interview."

"If you desire a positive outlook on the visitor, I won't be a good person to interview."

But I'm non looking for a positive outlook — I'm just looking for an outlook, catamenia. Chantry'd Country stores house prayer asking books in their dressing rooms, and I seriously consider taking out a whole page in the journal at the store almost my Austin home to scribble down my telephone number and putter a prayer easily emoji. Considering all I want is some (any!) information, and all I have are the 76 reviews on Glassdoor, a relatively small and entirely anonymous sample, but one that can't be discounted because the range of geographic locations they cite and the consistency in their pros and cons. Just 37 percentage of the reviewers approve of the CEO.

Which brings me to this.

"To be honest with yous, we're a pretty nether-the-radar company, so nosotros're non large on doing interviews or things of that nature," Aaron Walters says on my voicemail more than a month later on I give up on getting in touch with him. (Never before have I been and then furious with myself for screening a telephone call from a strange number.) Repeated calls fabricated to Walters, the chairman and CEO of Altar'd Country, over the post-obit days go unanswered.

"Is there any manner to convince you to not practise this story?" he asks when he eleventh-hour returns my calls, that were returning his call, that he made in response to a press asking I put into his company'southward chief charity partner. "All I have to get off of are those company reviews," I tell him. Walters says he'll speak to my editor, and so make a decision. The next day, he's in.

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"SERVING as an inspiration, EMPOWERING others, past GIVING more than nosotros receive, we stand up out for good to glorify GOD," reads Altar'd State's mission statement.

Photo: Altar'd State

The story goes that Aaron Walters and business partner Brian Mason — whose combined CV includes executive positions at the now-closed Goody'due south Family Clothing, plus high-level gigs at Macy'southward, Walmart, Kohl's, Walgreens, and Proffitt's — founded Altar'd State in 2009 "with a mission to fill a gap in the retail manufacture and change the world for the ameliorate."

That aforementioned year, the Associated Press reported that Christian merchandise represented a $four.6 billion industry, though many of the category's products were gimmicky and pun-heavy, quite literally wearing faith on their sleeves. At that place was a hole to fill, and money to be made, for a company with a subtler arroyo and a keener sense of style.

Altar'd State does not sell Christian apparel. The company sells feminine and flirty womenswear that taps into boho-chic trends for the Instagram set up. Its stores push button both in-house brands and external labels, all showcasing looks that are large on antiqued lace, soft tulle, and crochet detailing, with plenty of flowy layers in muted colors.

Which is to say that for a self-described Christian fashion company, at that place's a surprising dearth of religious iconography when information technology comes to its apparel. Instead, in that location are graphic tees best worn by weekend warriors sipping on mimosas that read "Will Work for Brunch" and "I Hate Mondays."

But Altar'd State's faith is never far from view. Stores pipe in gimmicky Christian music and the dressing rooms feature those aforementioned prayer request books. There are plenty of forest-cake wall hangings with snappy messages like, "Just Sayin'," "Be Prissy or Leave," and "I Totally Agree with Myself" — merely the larger blocks displayed in-shop include text like, "Exist Patient. Our prayers are e'er answered but not always on the exact twenty-four hour period we'd like them to be," and "Don't tell God that you lot have a big problem. Tell your problem that you lot have a large God." A display almost the front end entrance of the Austin store features paw towels with Philippians 4:13 alongside joke linens (all stitched in the aforementioned distressed Courier font) that define a calorie as, "A tiny creature that lives in your closet and sews your clothes a little tighter every night."

It just takes a lap around the shop to figure out Altar'd Land'south MO: religion is function and parcel of everyday life, and then items of holy inspiration should exist nestled correct aslope secular finds. There's no separation of church and state of mind.

Faith is office and parcel of everyday life, and so items of holy inspiration should be nestled correct alongside secular finds.

In a rare interview earlier this twelvemonth, the visitor told conservative blog Politichicks, "Yes, we are a Christian company and most Christians option up on that while shopping at our store. However, we like to remember that no matter what your religion is, yous tin feel at home at Chantry'd Country."

Altar'd Country first called itself Altar'd Land Christian Stores, but dropped the "Christian" qualifier in 2012 while besides adopting the tagline "faith meets fashion." By August of that same yr, a new, comparatively non-religious slogan emerged: "Stand out. For practiced." Other language on the site antiseptic how the visitor planned to gear up itself autonomously from competitors: "Fashion focused. Cause motivated." Up until last month, the site'due south homepage had a prayer form, a digital version of those dressing room prayer asking books. The "Our History" page on the website yet notes that the original intent of the business was to create a "modernized Christian shopping experience," just Christianity, and more recently organized religion, have seemingly faded into the background.

"I'll exist honest with yous, we need to overhaul our website, which nosotros're in the process of doing," says Walters. "I guess the way I would describe it is, we're a faith-based company, we have individuals from all backgrounds, all lifestyles, all beliefs who work for our company. So for example, nosotros have individuals who are Jewish, Protestant, I mean, whatsoever background you can think of: atheist, Muslim, whatever it may exist. So number i, we're all accepting. But part of the principle of really what we're trying to communicate there is living our organized religion, living through what our beliefs are, what our cadre beliefs are."

"How I was raised is, 'You should give to people in need,'" he rambles on. "And I plant that I was very blessed at a very young age. And I was able to move up very fast at a very immature age. So what we're really talking about, what nosotros're really maxim is doing it through your actions not your words. And how practice you practise that? Well, the first four-and-a-half years I worked for this company, I worked for costless. We didn't have the coin to pay me a bacon, and we yet gave dorsum. I'grand very proud of that."

And here'due south where I remind you the question was most the website.

Simply I go it. Walters wants his company's site to better correspond its move from a bazaar explicitly celebrating a specific faith to a chain endorsing volunteerism and charity.

Photo: Altar'd State

As per a 2010 story on AL.com, the name Chantry'd State is a reference to both the chantry of God and the contradistinct life of a Christian, or, equally Walters said at the time, "because when you live a Christian life, information technology is a dissimilar life." Giving back was also part of the internal company mandate from twenty-four hours one, says Walters, but it's tricky to pinpoint when exactly clemency work became such an integral component of its public-facing make identity.

The Mission Mondays program (in which 10 percent of the solar day's net proceeds become to a different local charity each month) has long been one of the tentpoles of Chantry'd Country's philanthropy program. That word pick — "mission" — is religiously evocative, but information technology'due south the only remaining vestige of the old messaging.

"They've repositioned their make, which is smart," says Elisabeth Hinckley, a trade marketing professor at FIDM and a Los Angeles-based marketing and PR consultant. "A make is like a living animate entity, and so as things alter, yous have to reposition. They haven't disassociated themselves with the past, only they've redefined what they stand up for in a way that includes more than people."

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Photo: Altar'd State

The Altar'd Country girl can feed her fashion taste and choose from a number of styles. The Chantry'd State girl can honour her Christian organized religion, if applicable, by perusing the religiously-inspired domicile goods department or paging through the limited organized religion-based and devotional books the brand offers. The Altar'd State daughter can be 14 — or 40.

"We are a mother-daughter shop," says Walters. "A mother and a girl tin can come in and store, they can experience our shop and enjoy the fitting rooms together. Perhaps the daughter buys a little flake more product or apparel for herself, simply we also have product that fits a manner-forward mother. I think a mom and daughter being able to go into a store and spend iii or four hours in a great plumbing equipment room and attempt things on and laugh and talk about information technology and take things that inspire them as they're doing it, in today's time, that's important."

On my recent Saturday visit to Altar'd State Austin, the store is filled with mother-daughter pairs. Over the course of an hour, I count one centre-aged woman shopping solo, and three shopping with boyfriends or husbands, trying on clothes I'd file under "Cool Mom." Only the other 15 or so customers on the floor and in line for the dressing rooms are giddy teenage girls and accompanying moms checking the price tags.

"Information technology's a bonding fourth dimension for female parent and daughter," continues Walters. "We're hitting that component of it. That's very difficult to practice because a lot of stores become one way or the other, where the girl walks in and is like, 'Oh, this is my mom's store,' or the mother walks in and is similar, 'Oh, that'southward my girl's store.'"

Now allow's talk well-nigh the clothes — namely, what sort of dress appeal to both a teenaged girl and her female parent and dovetail with the Christian values of the men who run a for-profit clothing company.

The items are by no means revealing, only shorts tin can be short, and bikinis are sold. "I wouldn't call them modest considering that kind of connotation is, I don't know, non modern — and they're modernistic," says Jennifer Harding of Seek Wander Share, which partnered with the brand on a campaign concluding year.

"We feel similar you can still behave very exciting clothes and withal be correct on-trend, appropriate. Information technology's non that we're overly small-scale, nosotros just effort to exist respectful."

The Altar'd State girl can show skin, merely non too much pare, lest mom nix those female parent-daughter shopping trips altogether. I can imagine the pieces displayed on the floor'south mannequins — faux fur vests, beaded headbands that become around the forehead, plenty of feathers — beingness worn by a gaggle of girls attending their showtime music festival, with someone's fun mom in tow to proceed an eye on things. "Conservative Coachella." "Bonnaroo Low-cal."

"It'southward one hundred percent a part of it," Walters says of the relative wholesomeness of the aesthetic. "The manner nosotros look at it is, nosotros feel like you can still deport very exciting clothes and however exist right on-tendency, advisable. At that place are definitely businesses out there where you tin can sell more racy things, but that's what we choose not to participate in. Information technology'due south non that we're overly small, nosotros merely endeavor to be respectful."

Taylor McKinsey Coonce, a 23-year-old customer who has been featured on Chantry'd Land'due south Facebook folio and web log as part of its #MyAltardState entrada, appreciates the range of sizes it offers: "I'm a large daughter, and then it's hard for me to find dress that are cute and that fit me well. I thing that I like about Altar'd State's wearing apparel and the wearing apparel that they bring in is that I unremarkably article of clothing a 2XL, simply I can go there and detect a flowy shirt, try on a large, and that'll fit me well. I like being able to find beautiful clothes that I've e'er wanted to wear, but I can't find anywhere else."

Altar'd State'due south pricing rests in the mid-tier range, with certain items topping out at $100 and the bulk of apparel hovering around $50 to $70. "It'southward pricier considering it's definitely a boutique," says Coonce. "With a store similar Free People, their stuff is much more expensive and I tin can't fit into any of it, then when Altar'd Country came along, I was similar, 'This is perfect.'"

For Coonce, a shopper who frequents Goodwill, Walmart, and Meyer, Altar'd Land is a splurge. But the price tag is worthwhile, she says, because "part of the money is going to charity."

Photo: Altar'd Country

There is indeed value added in bundling product with philanthropy. A 2014 Nielsen study found that 55 percent of online consumers are willing to pay higher prices for appurtenances offered by companies that advertise charity every bit function of their brands. Many corporations brand yearly, tax-deductible charitable donations (retrieve McDonald's Ronald McDonald House), but companies like Toms, The Giving Keys, and 31 Bits — which have all been sold at Altar'd State in the past — render purchasing their products the socially-witting choice simply by fashion of their charity-centric identities.

"I always think that people want to practise the right matter, that nosotros desire to help but nosotros don't always know how," says FIDM'due south Hinckley. "So when a brand similar this builds it into their concern model, it makes information technology easy for the customer to say yep. It differentiates them from the other retailers."

In addition to choosing to work with similar-minded requite-dorsum brands and maintaining Mission Mondays' give-dorsum policy, Altar'd State says it makes direct donations to local and international organizations. "We've donated to hundreds, if non thousands, of different charities," says Walters. "We've donated money to basically anything to do with homeless women, building self esteem, edification, veterans, children" — listing numerous veteran-focused charities, like Heroes on the Water, Veterans Empowerment Organization, Performance Homefront, and Blueish Star Mothers of America, as examples. The company's chief charitable partnership is with non-profit Coprodeli U.s., which serves at-risk youth in Republic of peru.

"I always think that people desire to do the right thing, that we desire to help only we don't always know how."

The site's "Giving" page features a imprint that reads, "It's non what we do... It'south who we are." Rotating statistics announced below. As of September 1, the imprint claims Altar'd State has sponsored 123 children, contributed 1,907 employee volunteer hours, and donated $1,277,525. The posted dollar totals, however, are slightly out of appointment, says Jamey Snyder, Chantry'd State'southward media marketing manager, via email. The new number, not including website donations for Baronial, is $1,389,639.

"The volunteer hours are a little harder for us to keep track of," says Snyder. "Our associates all over the country go volunteer out of the goodness of their hearts and don't recollect to tell our website manager to add together their hours to the total." Altar'd State has funded employee volunteer hours since its founding, paying its staff for up to four hours of volunteer work a calendar month. When employees volunteer for paid hours, they must file those hours with the home office.

"Nosotros just didn't want to be a company that wrote out checks and didn't make a difference in people's lives," says Walters, explaining this easily-on approach. Employees are complimentary to choice their own charities, and the bounty process abides by the award system. Though, I will mention over again that no retail associates contacted were willing or able to speak about, let alone confirm their experience with, this aspect of the company.

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So, what about the employees? What about those two,000 associates? What about those company reviews?

Photograph: Altar'd Land

The pros listed across the 76 reviews highlight ease of creativity, flexible hours, the company disbelieve, and, above all, Altar'd State's "great values." Says ane employee located in Altar'd Land'south homebase of Knoxville in an bearding 5-star review, "I have never seen a visitor that cares more about giving dorsum to those that are less fortunate. They don't just say information technology, they DO information technology. Love working here and promise to stay for a very long time."

The positive reviews praising Altar'd State's company mandate to make a difference, however, are far outnumbered past the negative reviews citing lack of support for sales managers and associates, an unresponsive domicile function, unpaid overtime for salaried employees, unrealistic expectations from corporate, failure to give raises, depression hourly wage, and high turnover rate. Of the 76 reviews posted, 48 are 2-stars or nether. The reported hourly salary for sales associates is $7.73/hour, slightly above the current national average minimum wage of $7.25/60 minutes.

Of grade, these anonymous reviews must be taken with a grain of common salt. We mail service reviews when we feel strongly, whether that be strongly in the positive or negative direction. It's worth noting that many of the low-rated reviews specify that the core values of the visitor and the people employed in that location are positives, before detailing their grievances.

The 1-star review below that was posted in June 2022 past an bearding store managing director is particularly indicative of the whole:

PROS

My ain employees. I have met some lovely people throughout the company during the time I was there but unfortunately majority of them quit due to circumstances below.

CONS

You lot're required to clock at to the lowest degree 45 [hours], being paid on salary at but 40. In actuality, clocking the week at a min of l hours was a dream when bulk of my weeks consisted of 13+ hours days and lx+ 60 minutes weeks ... The Christian and Mission based cloak are only terms they utilise to manipulate employees into thinking that they're working sixty+ hr weeks for a better cause.

Another 1-star review posted in June past a electric current employee acknowledges, "Great product. Great looking stores," in the Pros department, before cutting to the chase in the Cons:

Well, where to begin. You starting time working hither with this ideal...Christian company, great values, family unit culture, work life balance, we requite back, and WOW. Just amazing. And the opportunities for growth are endless. So, reality sets in. At that place is no structure. Stores are opening left and right. At the new store openings, the leaders are non adequate to lead. They are inexperienced, so the process takes forever and you lot don't really learn anything. The mgmt team is left after the opening (which stores are not properly staffed for) to run high volume stores without training. Then the store opens and customers dear us. Problem is? We don't know what we are doing and in that location is no ane...I hateful no 1...to answer emails or respond to phone calls. And so, the markdowns start. I've worked in retail for viii years. Markdowns are normal and slow. But here...you will literally marking down 3/4 of the store right afterward you set it. And so, and then you have to reset the store. This means overnights. And more overnights. Salaried managers are hired in to piece of work 45 hours a week. sixty+ is the real expectation. And it's nevertheless not enough. Y'all turn and fire part time help considering they take other commitments and get tired of getting called in on their days off. Then...hello managers...run this high volume shop alone. It's a great idea and provides the utmost customer service to shoppers. Ummm, no. Opportunities for advancement are ever available bc people with whatsoever experience leave. Upper management visits often which is nice. Minus the cult-similar mentality.

Altar'd State stores are now open vii days a calendar week. At i time, however, company-wide policy mandated that stores exist closed on Sundays. Several reviews point that employees were compelled to piece of work on Sundays during that time anyway, including this 2-star review from August 2014:

They claimed on their door that Sunday was supposed to be a "day of rest" but within the store, all of their employees were basically forced to come in and piece of work long shifts, sometimes 8 or fifty-fifty 12 hours, to complete virtually impossible tasks in the amount of time allotted. I understand that doing floor sets and markdowns are normal for a clothing company and that often times, stores take to do them over night. I exercise not have a problem with working hard, or long, hours. I do have a problem with a company that claims to respect and accolade Sundays as a holy day of rest but then turns around and secretly works its employees on that solar day. A couple months into my time there, they decided to just be open on Sunday. I had much more respect for them later they did this. At least they weren't secretly having their employees piece of work.

A 1-star review from February 2022 lists "faith based" and "volunteer opportunities" as pluses, earlier delivering advice to the management succinctly: "If y'all make promises, follow through on them. If you merits to be a Christian visitor, alive a godly, Christ-filled lifestyle. Instead of bumping upward prices outrageously and treating employees similar crud all the time, actually practice what you preach and love people more than than you love the money."

Photo: Altar'd State

Reports of workers breaking downwardly into tears and existence berated by upper direction are not uncommon. At that place's a pattern among the critical Glassdoor reviews. Altar'd State puts its money where its mission statement is, absolutely; only care for its ain employees is something left to be desired.

"I retrieve the mode I would reply to that is to be totally transparent and honest with you," says Walters, in his trademark winding fashion. "I'm not familiar with Glassdoor, and then I'chiliad not going to pretend to exist completely familiar with information technology and empathize it completely, so it'southward kind of hard for me to speak to it exactly, just I call up the way I would answer that is I'll tell you how we approach things. One of the things that nosotros exercise, and ane of the challenges about existence a growth company, is you're hiring a lot of new people, and when you go through growth, you've got to do some growing pains, and that is only an unfortunate role of it."

Walters agrees that more needed to be done to support sales associates during the company's early years, and mentions yearly internal surveys that were subsequently established equally a means to ensure more oversight. He says at that place is also an anonymous help line, the opportunity for employees to electronic mail Walters directly, and weekly store visits from district managers. According to Walters, 98 percent of employees internally surveyed were "either very proud or extremely proud to work for Altar'd State, and very satisfied," adding once more that Altar'd State employs 2,000 individuals.

Reports of workers breaking downwards into tears and existence berated by upper management are not uncommon.

"As far as addressing straight the pay raises, simply to exist transparent with you, I simply don't think that's authentic," adds Walters. "We'll tell yous that, unfortunately, sometimes, associates don't necessarily fall in love with the company, which is understandable. Plainly we want everybody to love Altar'd State, and information technology's something we pride ourselves on, simply I can just tell you, I know for a fact that we've always given pay raises."

These pay raises are annual in the spring of every yr, reports Walters, calculation that his favorite mean solar day, "is the twenty-four hours nosotros pay bonuses considering I get to come up in and sign hundreds and hundreds of bonus checks. I sit there and personally sign every single one of them, because I'chiliad then proud of what our team is doing." Every law, he continues, is adhered to insofar equally overtime bounty goes.

Walters says that the leadership team, himself included, spends a cracking deal of time visiting private stores: "Considering they've asked us to. Part of the survey was, nosotros want more than visits from you. And I think that has to do with the millennial. I think the millennial wants more than feedback. A lot of our associates are millennials, and the truth is I think they love feedback. They similar to know how they're doing at all times, and that's, I don't want to say hard to exercise, but it is hard to practice with 2,000 people, equally you tin imagine."

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Allow's get back to Altar'd Land'due south mission statement: "SERVING as an inspiration, EMPOWERING others, by GIVING more than nosotros receive, we stand out for adept to glorify GOD."

Is it possible to turn a profit — the virtually bones marking of a successful business — while still giving more than than receiving?

"You tin can't requite annihilation unless y'all're successful," says Walters. "Nosotros take to be unbelievably successful to be able to make a difference in the communities nosotros're in. So if we're non thriving as an organization, and nosotros don't take that mission, so we can't be successful. And too remember that giving does non merely necessarily mean financially, giving ways of your fourth dimension. As a matter of fact, I would even argue, giving of your time is even more important than giving of your finances."

But then, well, so in that location is this.

"A adult female's life is very stressful," he continues, "so one of the ways to requite more than yous receive is create a shopping experience she actually wants to be a role of and spend time in, right? Versus making it a chore. If you've ever watched, poor women have to go store for groceries, y'all can tell that they're stressed to the hilt before they even walk in the store, and so it's like they're on a mission, because information technology's simply i more job they've got to become done that twenty-four hours. That'due south really what nosotros mean past giving more than we receive."

Editor: Julia Rubin

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Source: https://www.racked.com/2015/9/9/9280177/altard-state-christian-fashion-stores