A new company in Germany is trying to break into the fashion business selling stylish clothes designed and produced by prison inmates . Inmates design and produce the Haeftling range . 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 . One design shows a female comic figure that was drawn by a man sitting on death row in Texas . Bohle said part of the proceeds from sales go to organizations that support prisoners ' rights and better conditions for inmates , like Amnesty International . But in some cases , money goes directly to the inmates that designed certain pieces . `` In the case of the female cartoon figure , this man was almost granted a stay from execution because of the design he did for us but in the end unfortunately the appeals court ruled against him , '' Bohle said . 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 . Watch the inmates at work » . 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 is n'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 the flagship store in Berlin . Bohle said he hopes socially responsible clothes will also make for a good business for the company . E-mail to a friend .
Prison inmates design clothes for new shop in German capital . Portion of profits go to prisoner rights organizations . Clothes include tag include prisoner 's name and sentence . Products include design by inmate on death row in Texas , U.S .