HANESBRANDS INC. DONATES 50,000 PAIRS OF PANTYHOSE TO GROUPS MAKING OIL-ABSORBING BOOMS TO FIGHT GUL

[lunatica]

Source: Hanesbrands Inc. press release

WINSTON-SALEM, NC, May 6, 2010 -- Hanesbrands Inc. announced today that it is donating 50,000 pairs of Hanes, L'eggs and Just My Size pantyhose to be used by nonprofit and grassroots volunteer groups that are making oil-absorbing hair booms to fight the Gulf Coast oil spill.

The groups will stuff the pantyhose with human and pet hair to make booms that absorb and trap crude oil. Oil is reclaimed by squeezing it out of the pantyhose-and-hair booms, which will then be reused to collect more spilled oil from Gulf Coast waters.

"We are collecting hair and pantyhose from throughout the country to make 1 million hair booms over the next three weeks," said Jeff Golden, vice president and co-founder of The Sunshine and Shores Foundation in Destin, Fla. "Hair acts as a sponge. When you put these booms in oil-polluted water, they absorb the oil and leave the water crystal clear."

Hanesbrands will donate 12,500 pairs of pantyhose to Sunshine and Shores and will donate 37,500 pairs to San Francisco-based Matter of Trust, an ecological charity that collects hair and pantyhose to make booms and oil-absorbing mats.

Read more: http://www.hanesbrands.com/hbi/docs/newsreleases/HBI%20Pantyhose%20Donation%20For%20Gulf%20Oil%20Spill%20Press%20Release%205-5-10%20FINAL.htm

[customerserviceguy]

1. Does anyone wear these things anymore?

I sure don't notice a lot of hosiery at my job, seems that barelegged is in, and has been for quite some time. It has been a very long time since I've seen those L'eggs racks in the grocery stores, that's for sure.

[lunatica]

2. Probably older women wear them to work

I know the young women in UC Berkeley will wear colorful tights during the winter. But less and less women are wearing the. I'm sure Hanes saw a good use for their overstocks.

[marions ghost]

3. yep

overstocks, esp in a recession.

The "hair booms" are not likely to be used by anybody seriously cleaning up this spill. Maybe people could use a few to surround their boat or something like that, but they wouldn't last long where there are waves. And with the size of this spill, it's a joke as far as cleaning up the Gulf.

Yes a good way to get rid of the pantyhose stock and appear to be doing something to help.

The people I know wear them as little as possible. Hot, bothersome, and expensive. And yeah, getting to be an "old lady" item.

[lunatica]

5. I stopped wearing them about 15 years ago

I've lived through the agonizing years of the garter belts and stockings, the girdles and the pantyhose. I just reached an age where comfort trumps whatever torture device the fashion nazis come up with.

[customerserviceguy]

7. Back when I knew women who wore them

I know that they would brag if they'd get five or six wearings out of a pair before they ran, and I told them that men would never put up with buying a pair of socks that they could get even twice that many wearings!

[customerserviceguy]

6. You could be right about the older women

But my lady's in her mid-fifties, and I've never had to fight a pair of pantyhose hanging over the shower curtain pole since I've lived here. I don't even think she has any of those knee-high nylons that my ex was wearing back in the 1970's.

[malletgirl02]

9. I'm 25 and I wear them

First it is less painful and faster to put on a pair of pantyhose then to shave my legs when I wear a dress or a skirt. Secondly with out them I feel like when I'm wearing a dress, I am wearing a shirt without pants on.

[formercia]

4. Another thing that works very well is Dacron fiberfill

The type of filler used in pillows and such. I've used it to recover valuable organic solvents from water. It's very efficient.

I'd bet there are a billion old pillows out there that could find a new life.

[lonestarnot]

8. I have a big box ready, but don't know where to send it. Do you have an address?

[formercia]

10. That's a good question.

You could send it to groups accepting hair but they will probably not know what to do with it. Companies that clean up HAZMAT spills use something similar to soak up oil spills, so I'm sure someone in the Oil business would understand the concept.
The nice thing about Polyester (Dacron) filling is that there are thousands of tons of it out there.I wish I knew how to get the word out to people.