Anti-sweatshop activists question Philbin's clothing line

Anti-sweatshop activists protested outside of Macy's flagship store in New York on Friday.

June 16, 2000
Web posted at: 5:27 p.m. EDT (2127 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Regis Philbin's new line of shirts and ties drew about 250 protesters to Macy's flagship store on Friday afternoon. The host of ABC's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" launched his line of Van Heusen menswear there earlier this week.

Demonstrators said they didn't know if Philbin's line was being manufactured in sweatshop conditions. Despite their uncertainty, they stunned shoppers by blowing high-pitched whistles and unveiling a banner inside the store that read: "Regis and Van Heusen: Is 'Sweatshops' your final answer?"

The group then marched outside of Macy's Herald Square entrance and handed out leaflets to passers-by.

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Picketers from a garment industry union maintain Van Heusen has a history of employing sweatshop labor to manufacture its clothes.

"We think Regis shouldn't lend his name to clothing for a company that laid off 500 workers in Georgia and Alabama and closed two factories just this week," said David Sailer, a spokesman for the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE).

Van Heusen announced on Monday that the company had acquired Arrow Shirt. On Tuesday, Arrow announced it would close two factories in the U.S., according to union.

No evidence

Television host Regis Philbin showed his line of shirt-and-tie ensembles at the collection's debut at Macy's in New York earlier this week.

Sailer admitted the group had no evidence that Philbin's "Regis" shirts and ties were manufactured in sweatshops.

The union said Van Heusen has a "track record of using overseas contracting shops with sweatshop conditions," and it believes the jobs that were lost in the U.S. will go to "poverty-wage sweatshops in Guatemala that are in flagrant violation of Guatemalan labor law."

Sailer said he had no evidence to prove that Arrow's new owner, Van Heusen, had such a plan.

Representatives of Regis Philbin had no comment regarding the protest.

Calls to Phillips-Van Heusen went unanswered, as the company closes early on Fridays.

A labor activist group discovered four years ago that Kathie Lee Gifford, Philbin's co-host on "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee," was using sweatshop labor in Honduras to manufacture part of her clothing line for Wal-Mart.

Gifford, who said she was unaware of the circumstances, vowed to help stamp out worker exploitation.

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