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No Skirting the Koran. In Iraq the most popular item is the dark, double-breasted jacket, which the Arab likes to wear over his traditional wraparound, ankle-length dishdasha robe. Faced with a decline in the double-breasted suit's popularity in the U.S.. exporters are hard pressed to keep up with the Arab demand. The coats retail for $3 to $5 with a tuxedo selling for $12. Until the import of surplus U.S. uniforms was stopped recently by the Iraqi government, the military look was much in demand from Arab doormen and night watchmen in search of a touch of distinction for their duties.
Used-clothes dealers, who buy sight unseen from the U.S., run into trouble sometimes. Last July there was a near riot when a dress decorated with a print of verses from the Koran was discovered on sale at an open-air stall in Chittagong, Pakistan. Outraged Moslems assembled at Chittagong's main mosque, called the U.S. consul long distance in Dacca to protest, were soothed only when the consul promised to ask the U.S. Ambassador to Paki stan to protest to the State Department.
Not surprisingly, the majority of U.S. used-clothing exporters are located in New York City, most in a narrow, dowdy slock on Manhattan's lower East Side. Biggest single source of used clothes to he exporters is their nonprofit competitors—charitable organizations that collect more clothes than they can distribute to the needy here and abroad. Last year, for example, the Salvation Army's eleven-state eastern division collected 40,000 tons of used clothing, sold 18,363 tons to exporters as surplus.
Although many charities give away clothes, particularly in Africa, most used-clothes retailers have little objection. The handouts often are the poor natives' first contact with Western dress, and so they make new customers for the retailers in the end, and there is plenty of nakedness to go around.