Another Major Apparel Firm Drops Bu

[yawnghwe@xxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Another Major Apparel Firm Drops Burma

SYNAPSES
1821 W. CULLERTON, CHICAGO, IL 60608
312 421-5513

for immediate release

Contact: Don Erickson
312-421-5513

ANOTHER MAJOR APPAREL FIRM DROPS BURMA

Oshkosh B'Gosh Inc. announced today that it will no longer have clothing 
made in Burma.  The leading manufacturer of children's clothing said, "After 
a thorough evaluation of all the facts regarding this sourcing relationship, 
we have chosen not to source product from Myanmar Segye for any Oshkosh 
B'Gosh brands after our current agreement runs out.  We are expecting a last 
and final small Genuine Kids shipment in June of this year."

Myanmar Segye is 40% owned by the Burmese junta, a regime that has been 
widely condemned for massive human rights violations by the UN Commission on 
Human Rights, Amnesty Internaitonal, Human Rights Watch/Asia, the European 
Union, the US congress and the State Department.

"In initiating this campaign, we were fairly certain that once they had the 
information a company with Oshkosh B'Gosh's reputation would not want to 
have anything to do with the Burmese military junta," said Don Erickson of 
Synapses, a Chicago based human rights organization.  "If anything the human 
rights situation has worsened this last year.  Burma is surely a 
totalitarian state fast approaching the level of Hitler's Germany and 
Stalin's USSR," Erickson added.

Oshkosh B'Gosh follows Levi Strauss, Liz Claiborne, Eddie Bauer, Macy's and 
Columbia Sportswear in exiting Burma.

Besides Synapses, participating in the Oshkosh B'Gosh campaign were the 
Grassroots Collective, UW Oshkosh; the 8th Day Center for Justice in 
Chicago; and the UW Greens in Madison.

US manufacturers still reported to be sourcing clothing in Burma are 
Nautica, Leslie Fay and London Fog.