FLDS Sells kidswear on the web

FLDS fashions for kids sold on enterprising Web site

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9737603

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 FLDS 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.

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The department took custody of 440 children from the sect's Yearning for Zion Ranch in early April and eventually 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.

"Some children had only the shirt on their backs, literally," Jessop said.

By late April, some children had been told to stop using their unique underwear, and clothing was getting mixed up and lost on laundry days. That added to the pressure, Jessop said, to have the children don "gentile" - regular - clothes.

But the mothers resisted.

"We said, 'These are our children and this is the way we've chosen to dress them,'" Jessop said. "No way, no way."

When CPS 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.

With their children gone, many mothers had idle hands, empty hours and a need to support themselves.