By Anjali Sareen
A garment maker that specializes in bullet-proof goods for adults is planning to manufacture and sell a line of bullet-proof clothes exclusively for children, in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Miguel Caballero has been in the garment business in Bogota, Colombia for 22 years, but has never been able to break through the U.S. market. He hopes his new line of kid’s clothes will change that.
Caballero plans to sell T-shirts, vests, and combination backpack-vests. He says the inspiration for his new business model was when he started to receive requests from worried parents after the Connecticut shooting.
“We would answer that we do not make clothes for kids. But the emails kept coming,” Caballero said.
Within a week, he had begun designing children’s clothes and subjecting them to ballistic tests. The factory is now awaiting firm orders and is ready to ship 1,800 bullet-proof garments. The line is made for kids aged 8 to 16 and each pieces ranges from $200 to $400.
Carolina Ballesteros, Caballero’s director of research and development, said the young age of the Newtown victims caused the frantic reaction. Ballesteros said the garments were not designed for everyday use, but for emergencies, to be handed out by teachers.