Unbelievable: 5 Clothing Brands Manufactured in prison

Victoria's Secret

 When you think of the prison what comes to mind? Criminals locked up behind Bars and always idle right but you are about to discover what else happens there. America has the highest incarceration rate in the world, there are approximately 2.7 million people in jail. These 2.7 million inmates end up costing taxpayers around $63 billion each year but someone had an idea.  Why not have prisoners work for a small company or a large corporation while in jail? The labor would be cheap and the money spent on keeping that person in jail will be cycled back into the economy via the products they are able to produce.  This is how manufacturing in prison was born in the United States and the manufactured goods range from food products to technology, really anything that can be made in a factory, including fashion.

Victoria's Secret is one brand that manufactures its product in prison, sounds strange right? Continue below to discover other fashion brands produced in prisons

JCPenny

 As a department store, JCPenney sells a variety of items from appliances to baby clothes, all made by various companies representing different brands.  They also have their own brand, called jcp.  Between all of these, prison labour has come into play.  Though they state on a government labour website that they do not knowingly outsource their manufacturing to foreign companies that use prison labour, it really says nothing about working with companies that employ inmates in their own country, which is interesting

Haeftling

 When German jails first started wanting to sell their clothes, they were uneasy about stating where they were made.  Surely they thought that judgment would be passed and that people may not want them due to negative connotations.  However, one businessman named Stephan Bohle decided that it was nothing to be feared and boldly named the label Haeftling, German for “jailbird”.  Since then, the brand has never looked back and they have sold garments to people from Germany to Australia to Japan.  They have in fact been so successful that they expanded into leather briefcases, bed linens, and even a specialty line of schnapps.

Stripes Clothing

 Stripes Clothing was created by four individuals who are not incarcerated but who took a tour of a prison during the final year of their studies.  They concluded that in prison, one can easily become detached from the real world, losing the sense that freedom exists and in turn their motivation.  “By maintaining work rhythm in prison, the life of a prisoner does not entirely stand still” and they are given access to the normalcy of attending work every day, like everybody else.  They also strengthen their social skills, along with the technical skills associated with producing a garment.  Stripes Clothing was founded in the Netherlands and four prisons participate in clothing manufacturing there.  A prison in France along with the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institute of Prison Blues has also teamed up with Stripes Clothing.

Prison Blues

Prison Blues was created in 1989 in Oregon with the intention of manufacturing garments to assist in covering the costs of the inmates’ stays at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institute and without damaging local private businesses.  To set up their enterprise, they used a grant given to them by the government that consisted of money retrieved from drug trafficking.  In order to participate as a factory employee, inmates must not only demonstrate good behavior but also successfully complete an interviewing process.  Once an employee, they must remain productive at all times inside and outside of work.  One benefit of being an employee is that they get to keep approximately 20 percent of their earnings, with the other 80 percent being used to cover the cost of their stay and any of their other expenses, such as family support and paying taxes.  These positions at Prison Blues are so coveted that there is even a 3-year waiting list.  The Correction Connection helps Prison Blues to distribute their product in-store and online, and products range from t-shirts to jeans.  Interestingly, they also manufacture uniforms for other prisons in the state of Ore