More About Numbers on Clothing

[Beverly Flanigan]

Target has now withdrawn the 88 line of clothing, which suggests enough
people did indeed make the connection with HH to cause a bit of a panic.

At 11:50 AM 9/6/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>This is related to the 88-Heil Hitler-Target story. One of my clients
>is a children's clothing design firm. On the wall of one of the
>designers is the following memo, written by a brand manager for
>Wal-Mart, which is one of their clients.
>
>"Here is a list of numbers which legal has approved for our use:
>
>63 But do NOT use in conjunction with route or highway type language
>79 OK
>92 OK
>00 OK
>27 OK
>07 OK
>89 OK
>84 OK
>85 OK
>45 OK except when used with a P
>
>We are currently working on additional numbers, but at least this is a
>start. If you have any questions, please let me know."
>
>(end memo)
>
>While I would have better results talking to a lawyer about this
>(Frank? Barry?) one of the designers told me that a primary concern
>when avoiding numbers on clothing is sports-related. Avoiding 23, for
>example, is paramount because of its strong assocation with Michael
>Jordan and the Bulls. And so on.
>
>I should add that the designer had a slight panic when I told him about
>the 88-Target news, because he believed they had just shipped a load of
>children's designs with 88 and the American flag. He was mistaken,
>however, as the actual number used was 89.
>
>--
>Grant Barrett
>gbarrett at worldnewyork.org
>Small Business Apple Macintosh Support in New York City
>http://www.worldnewyork.org/