德国有一个服饰品牌，所有的衣物都是由监狱犯人自己设计和生产的，更特别的是，该品牌就直截了当叫做“犯人”。这些“囚衣”进入市场后反响不错，在柏林甚至还有家专卖旗舰店。

Inmates design and produce the Haeftling range.[Agencies]

A new company in Germany is trying to break into the fashion business selling stylish clothes designed and produced by prison inmates.

The company Haeftling, which in English means inmate, has just opened its first store in Berlin. "We want to have basic, durable, timeless, beautiful clothes," said Stephan Bohle, one of the company founders.

Many of the clothes, cooking aprons and even stainless steel food trays offered in the Berlin store were either designed or manufactured in jails, but not just German ones.

The clothes offered at the Haeftling shop also tell the story of the inmates that designed individual pieces. A small text inside the item lays out the prisoners’ story, including the name, where he is in jail and how long the term will be.

Some of the clothes are manufactured at a corrections facility in Halle, near Leipzig, in Eastern Germany.

Prisoners sew cooking aprons in a jail workshop for several hours a day. "It's wonderful, at least it takes your mind off jail for a little while," says Mario Hildebrand, who is serving a 20 month term in Halle.

"We can really identify with this label," he said. "We are the prisoners and without us this label would not be possible, so we do take some pride in making these clothes."

However, Mario said he would not wear the clothes himself: "Look, I am a prisoner, and I'm really not proud of it. It isn't something I want to be parading around."

But others seem to be catching the fever. Bohle said the company wants to start selling in the United States.

"We've had people from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles ask about Haeftling," he said in an interview in theflagship store in Berlin.

Bohle said he hopes socially responsible clothes will also make for a good business for the company.

（Agencies）

Vocabulary:

inmate：犯人

flagship store：旗舰店

(英语点津Celene编辑)