THE popularity of Christmas jumpers was illustrated last year in reports from the Lidl supermarket chain that it had sold one every two seconds. Its designs included Christmas trees, snowflakes, candy canes — and its own logo.

This year, two brothers have launched an alternative for those seeking knitwear more rooted in the Christmas story.

Incarnate Apparel, billed as “Christmas jumpers that point to Christ”, developed by Matthew and Tom James, offers a jumper emblazoned with John 1.5. The words “The light shines in the darkness” appear on the front, while the back completes the verse with “and the darkness has not overcome it”.

A fund-raising campaign on Kickstarter which ran throughout October has raised £3520 — enough to produce 100 jumpers.

“It certainly does”

“Last year, I was looking round and realised [that] lots of things about Christmas, particularly in the UK, are quite separated from the gospel, from what Christmas is about — the news about Jesus,” Tom told the Church Times on Wednesday. “There is a whole world out there of Christmas jumpers, but most of them have more to do with candy canes and reindeer than what Christmas is actually about.”

Developing the jumper and securing a manufacturer was an entirely new prospect for the brothers. Tom, who is 29 and worships at St Helen’s, Bishopsgate, works in renewable energy, while Matthew is studying for a Master’s degree in architecture. Part of the challenge was to encourage potential customers to start thinking about Christmas in October, Tom said. They promoted the Kickstarter campaign through churches and social media.

“We hope to help Christians have the opportunity to speak about Jesus at Christmas,” Tom, who hopes that people will ask what the verse means, said. These words were chosen, he said, because “lots of people, particularly young people, maybe feel that there is lots of darkness in the world.

“People really want hope; they want light. This is a verse which says, actually, light has come into the world. The light shines in the darkness. Jesus offers light and life. Hopefully, that really resonates with where people are at.”

The brothers hope that the jumper may “help normalise bringing Christmas back to the gospel”.

instagram.com/incarnate.apparel