European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 03, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Designing the a n her fashions make the big time by Jerry Nachtigal associated press body would have guessed least of All 14-year old Jamie White of Branson. To but Asil turned out her keen Eye for casual fashion has brightened the lives of thousands of american youngsters and will apparently for years to come. She was with her father and a Church group on a trip to Antigua in the Caribbean in 1987 when she saw some simple Cotton shirts and shorts fashioned from flour and sugar bags fluttering from a clothesline she liked them so much she bought them from the woman who made them on the plane Back Home she began discussing making and Selling flour sack clothes her father. Joe White says. By the time we got Back Home we d carved out a lot of ideas " the ideas turned into a clothing business White and his wife. Debbie to operate four Christian non denominational sports Camps in the Scenic Ozark mountains of southwestern Missouri that each summer attract 5,000 children Ages 8 to 18 from 44 states and 11 other countries. The family decided that any clothing profits would go toward their dream of opening additional Camps solely for inner City and mentally handicapped children from across the nation. A non profit foundation has purchased 150 acres on table Rock Lake for the new Camps which the Whites Hope to open in 1991. Jamie a Sandy haired 14-year-old with braces has seen her simple idea grow into a line of Cotton to shirts tops shorts sweat shirts sweat pants and Blue Jean vests they Are marketed for girls 13 to 16 under the White Sands clothing co. Label. White says the family run business has sold about $200,000 Worth of clothing in its first year mostly to Little Rock Dillard department stores. The Nordstrom s department store Chain also carries some White Sands garments and Macy s has expressed an interest White says orders Are rolling in. And White expects business to at least double in 1990 this is a Cinderella Story All the Way we re David competing against the Goliath a like Esprit and he says a Benefactor of the Camps put the Whites who had no previous experience in the garment Industry in touch with Mike Dillard president of Dillard department stores the Chain liked Jamie s designs for a Lino of shorts and tops like the Antigua flour and sugar bag garments and featured them in last Spring s line Jamie also sold Dillard s on about 25 varieties of Neon to shirts shorts and tops for , along with Jamie White a 14-year-old fashion designer Mode a some other clothing designs which Are marketed under the White Sands clothing co. Label. Knit jerseys and Jean vests adorned with dozens of costume jewelry pieces buttons and beads for fall. We be just now gained the respect of stores and they re saying. Hey these Guys Are a real company they can really produce clothes " White says. His Solt spoken daughter admits she doubted the business would gel off the ground i thought it was going to be something we d try to do but would t really gel started she says it s really done Well " Jamie the oldest of the Whites Lour children has an incredible Knack Lor seeing whal will soil in department stores la a a sixth her father says Jarnigo does the designing but re ios on Rock Mumford. One of 1.000 Camp Counselor and an Art Mojor at Souter Ost Missouri stale University to actually put her icons on fax inc the kids at Camp also to Jap me Dovgin and Tell to what they like and would she says the cloth of arc Cut and screened at factories in Ozark. Ava and Shell Knob. To the i edging company employs three people full time and Lias about a dozen part time workers including a Saleswoman Jamie attends Trade shows in new York where the new White Sands lines Are exhibited to buyers from major clothing companies. She says she gets a thrill every time she s in a department store and sees the clothing she has designed for other teen age girls displayed next to big name lines. Ill see people looking through the Racks and it s like of my gosh they re buying my clothes " she says. But that s not the greatest thrill. For the past 10 years about 400 ghetto and mentally handicapped children have spent a week each August at Kakakuk Kamps which were begun by White s father Spike White in 1954. Children can Pamic Pate in 30 sports from baseball to horseback Riding to water skiing. It s just a Joy to see those kids having so much fun Dong things they d never get to do otherwise Jamie Sas and they get a Chance to know Christ and develop everlasting what of the future for this clothes designing ingenue i never had a dream to be a designer. I like to be outside doing athletic things. I d rather be a Camp Lenna Bombeck Ever since a Salesman came to my door one Day sprayed a foot deodorant on my sandals and the soles melted off i Haven t trusted freebies you pay a Price for them but i must admit i have succumbed to every perfumed strip sealed in a Magazine or included in the Bills that come to our House there s not a Day goes by that i am not suffering paper cuts Over 50 percent of my fact neck and arms from slinging a Magazine around me with the frenzy of a shot Putter in the olympic trials perfume manufacturers have finally found a Way to sell the sizzle of their product but wait1 now the magazines Are getting complaints that these strips Are offensive to those allergic to perfume and Are causing headaches and other reactions it s not easy Selling illusion fantasy and mystery you could float Elizabeth Taylor in the Gulf of Mexico and Stock it with passion but whal does it smell like i be watched Ingrid Bergman s daughter running around in a Loga with a migraine mumbling obsession to a cast of weird people and i must admit i Haven t a clue whether they re Selling perfume or a mental health facility As for eternity the Only thing the word brings to mind is Dorothy Parker s great definition eternity is a Ham and two people " i Don t know that we can control the unwanted doors that permeate our daily lives if we could i d probably take out the european Macho who sat next to me for eight hours in route to Moscow sans deodorant it s an imperfect world a world of sagging diapers stinking subways dogs in heal and garbage barges that Drift around the world searching for a port where everyone has clogged sinuses the whole world is going crazy trying to make this planet smell like everything is coming up roses kids Tennis shoes now have a special Industrial strength deodorant All their own you can scent your clothes As you Wash and dry them the 1990s will also see the emergence of deodorized underwear i do not know what that Means there Are cover ups for cat litter. Every bathroom in the world smells like a Pine Forest and every Kitchen like a Lemon Grove our cars Are spritzer with sandalwood and even a new leather scent. Someday when we can see the air we May get Back to smelling it. But for the moment we re going to have to do the Best we can. So sometimes i get stuck with an odor that is As Subtle As a Flea Collar. Every once in a while i rub a perfumed strip Over my body and for an hour or so i am standing on a Balcony overlooking a Lake of swans and a deep voice beside me is whispering huskily How did you get a paper Cut on your ear cj19b9 Erma Bombeck Page 16 the stars and stripes wednesday january 3,1989
