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Ribbon supplies casualty of war
Oakland Tribune, Apr 1, 2003 by Eve Mitchell, BUSINESS WRITER
Y ELLOW RIBBON is in short supply at some Bay Area fabric stores as people look for a way to show their support for American troops in Iraq.
"People are coming in a lot looking for yellow ribbon," said Jacquie Luster, a Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts district manager whose territory includes stores in San Ramon, Hayward and Fremont. "We are very much aware of the need and trying to source every vender we can to get it into the stores."
At the San Ramon store, yellow ribbon was out of stock by the end of last week but more is on order because of the demand for it.
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The idea of tying yellow ribbons around trees and outside homes dates back to the Civil War, has been repeated during subsequent wars and also took hold during the Iran hostage crisis in the late 1970s and the Persian Gulf War.
If the origins of the yellow ribbon tradition go back to the Civil War, its popularity in more recent times started with the wife of Bruce Laingen, ambassador to Iran during the hostage crisis. She tied a yellow ribbon around an oak tree in her front yard after Laingen and others were taken hostage in 1979.
While the same yellow ribbon tradition is happening again during the current Iraqi war, a fabric store in Berkeley has plenty of yellow ribbon to go around, at least for now.
But black fabric -- used to make arm bands worn by anti-war protesters -- has been in demand at Berkeley's Stonemountain & Daughter Fine Fabrics.
"It's not so much yellow ribbons but black (fabric for making) arm bands,"said Suzan Steinberg, co-owner of the Shattuck Avenue store. "There have been various colors, but black is the dominant one. It's more the protesters than the bring-them-home side. People from the university have been coming in."
Steinberg said that people have come in to buy yellow ribbon, but in much smaller quantities. Black fabric tends to get purchased in large quantities so it can be made into arm bands for protest groups, she said.
Still, Steinberg is making plans to order more yellow ribbon for the store, but a variety that is bigger than the narrow yellow ribbon currently in stock.
"I'm sure (demand) is going to pick up more with soldiers being lost," she said. "I think what people really want is 3-inch wide ribbon for big bows."
Finding wholesale suppliers of yellow ribbon is not an easy task.
Luster, the district manager for Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts, said there is not much yellow ribbon stock to begin with in the retailer's stores. That's because as far as popular ribbon colors go, yellow was just not a popular hue before the Iraq conflict started last week.
"The existing supply is basically nil," she said. "Yellow is not a color that is readily available because we don't sell much of it."
Now with the American military fighting in Iraq, that has suddenly changed, she said.
"All of a sudden we have the demand," said Luster, adding that when shipments do come in they likely will come directly to Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts stores instead of through the retailers' warehouse distribution channels.
Kmart and Wal-Mart said they have seen nationwide increases in the demand for yellow ribbon and American flags. Sales of yellow ribbons have doubled at Paper Mart, a California-based distributor of paper products and office supplies, said advertising manager John Bechtold.
The color of ribbons -- and just plain old black fabric for that matter -- have a way of providing a barometer when it comes to issues important to Americans.
"I've gone through a lot of different phases with ribbons," recalled Luster, pointing out that pink is the color for ribbons for fighting breast cancer. And there was a big demand for red-white-and- blue striped ribbons after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
But for now, yellow is the color.
"It is in high demand," she said.
To learn about yellow ribbon history go www.loc.gov/folklife/ ribbons/ribbons.html
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
c2003 ANG Newspapers. Cannot be used or repurposed without prior
written permission.
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