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REUTERS
NEW YORK
A US clothing company is taking a sartorial swipe at first lady Melania Trump, selling jackets saying"I really care, don't you?"in response to the"I really don't care"jacket she wore to visit migrant children separated from their parents.
All proceeds from the jackets, selling for $98, will be donated to a Texas-based refugee and immigrant advocacy group, said Emma McIlroy, chief executive of the Wildfang clothing company in Portland, Oregon.
The first lady's visit on Thursday to a Texas shelter housing migrant children was overshadowed by the jacket she wore with the words:"I really don't care, do u?"scrawled in white brush strokes on the back. Her jacket prompted a maelstrom on social media over what it meant.
Her spokeswoman said the jacket had no hidden message, while President Donald Trump tweeted that it referred to"fake news."
Wildfang had its version of the jacket, with its slogan on the back, for sale online the same day as the first lady's visit, McIlroy told the Thomson Reuters Foundation."I thought 'Why don't we make the opposite jacket? Why don't we make the jacket that does good in the world?'"she said.
The first batch of 100 military-style jackets sold out within an hour, and a second batch sold just as quickly.
The small, 5-year-old clothing company is now taking requests for t-shirts and other emblazoned jackets to fulfill in the next few weeks, McIlroy said.
"I think it's just incredibly hopeful and refreshing,"she said of the response.
The furore over the jackets shows the power of fashion, especially in turbulent political times when the public is"so angry about everything,"said Paco Underhill, chief executive of Envirosell, a research and consulting company, and author of"Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping."
"Whether it's fashion or whether it's tattoos or whether it's billboards, people are desperately trying to find ways to make statements,"he said.
