hurrengoa
jail fashion it's free ainger   I  herr ledesi "My taylor is a narco" “Well, mine knocked off all his own family.” The snippet you've just read may not be a quote from a Quentin Tarantino film, but thanks to the “coolhunters” knocking around these days, it's actually something you could hear popping up in a conversation quite easily. What are we on about? Read on. Prisoners housed in the biggest European prison Tegel, Germany, began to make their own clothes some time ago. They looked at the quality, design and price of the gear they were making, compared it to other clobber on sale on the other side of the prison walls and decided they would sell their stuff on the outside as well. And that's how the brand name Haeftling (Prisoner) came into existence. At the moment, you can only buy Haeftling clothes over internet. There's a lot of humour at this web page and it's been a roaring success. “Anybody on the outside would kill for a Haeftling shirt” says inmate Matthias Meyenberg who is currently serving a three year prison sentence for drug-dealing. These prisoners now have new victims to home in on: “fashion victims”. At present it's still not a crime to rip that lot off.Their work is not going to get them released but the great money they're making helps them improve internal services and facilities in the prisons. And because most of the prisoners are involved in production they also get a few shillings themselves for their bother. This same experience has been repeated in other parts of the world. You can find an example of this at the Italian www.madeinjail.com. They haven't been quite as successful as the Germans mind you. The link between prison and fashion is certainly not a new one at that. The strict dress laws in prisons in the USA have given birth to new trends. An example of this was the trend that saw people wearing their trousers halfway down their arses. This started because prison rules don't allow inmates to use belts. Sneakers without laces is another trend that finds its origins in US prison rules. There are those who question the acceptability of the prison-made fashion, but if we start to bring the hammer down on the world of fashion... I mean, who wouldn't stick Vitorio & Luchino in the slammer? What about Agatha Ruiz de la Prada's shite? Shouldn't she be dragged up before a judge and made answerable for her crimes against humanity? We all know that the brand name gear we wear everyday is made in exploiting sweat shops in many countries in Asia and South America... and then there's teenage anorexia...