ELDORADO. Texas — A new clothing brand may be born out of the Texas raid on a polygamous sect.
FLDS women for the first time are offering their handmade, distinctive style of children’s clothes to the public through the Web site fldsdress.com.
Launched initially to provide Texas authorities with clothing for Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints children in custody, the online store now is aimed at helping their mothers earn a living.
The venture, which has already drawn queries from throughout the U.S., is banking on interest in modest clothes, curiosity and charity to be a success.
“We don’t know what to expect on demand but we have had a flood of interest,” said Maggie Jessop, a member of the FLDS. “Our motive is not to flaunt ourselves or our religion before the world. We have to make a living the same as everyone does.”
The initial Web site featured only photographs of clothes because the children were still in state custody. Now those are being replaced with photographs of smiling, beatific FLDS children modeling the fashions.
The sect is offering dresses, overalls, shirts, pants, nightgowns, sleepers, onesies for babies and, yes, ankle-to-wrist underwear. There are denim jeans for boys and “teen princess” dresses in plain, jacket and vest styles in pastel shades of pink, peach, yellow, green, aqua, blue, lavender and lilac. The dresses sell for $35.65. Women’s apparel could be added if demand arises.
Jessop says Texas Child Protective Services was the inspiration for the enterprise.
The department took custody of 440 children from the sect’s Yearning for Zion Ranch in early April and placed them in shelters throughout Texas, where they were expected to stay for up to a year.
Most children had only a few changes of clothes — long dresses for girls and pants and long-sleeved shirts for boys, covering long underwear.
When Child Protective Services said there was no place to buy clothing that met the sect’s dress code, the mothers had an answer.
“We said, ‘Yes you can. You can buy them from us,”’ Jessop said.
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