Dixie Outfitters is a Southern apparel retailer. The company believes various groups have distorted the real meaning of the Confederate Flag for their own purposes. We strive to feature the Confederate Flag in the context of history, heritage, and pride in the Southern way of life.
The company has seen sales soar after major retailers dropped Confederate flag items this week.
Jacksonville.com reported:
Dewey Barber is sticking with the image on the T-shirts and vehicle tags his workers turn out at Dixie Outfitters in Odum, and that kept everyone busy filling a surge in orders and fielding calls Tuesday.
“It is good for business,’’ said Barber, owner of the company he founded in 1997 with three people. “We’ve seen a surge in orders.”
Civil rights groups have long condemned the official displays of the Confederate battle flag on license plates, on state flags and on statehouse grounds as a symbol of racism. Their case was buoyed by images of Dylann Roof, who is charged with murder in the shootings at Emanuel, as he held the flag in white supremacists rants.
Barber said he had talked to Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal, CNBC and others Wednesday explaining his stand that his use of the flag is a defense of personal liberties. His office workers have also fielded calls from supporters and assured them they weren’t about to quit.
Barber compared the resulting binge buying of Confederate flag items to the early days of the Obama administration, when fears of new gun control measures prompted a run of firearms.
“When people believe government is encroaching on their liberties, there’s a backlash,’’ he said.
Barber said he could see the surge coming when he first heard that Amazon and other big retailers announced they would no longer stock items with the Confederate battle flag.
Barber said he thinks it’s irrational to go after the Confederate flag because of Roof’s views.
“It doesn’t make rational sense to look at the views of a crazy person” and react in a way that legitimizes them, he said.
