ACTION ALERT: Tell Pottery Barn No to Sourcing from Burma!

Note: Pottery Barn has responded to emails by stating that they have no product from Burma; sometimes saying that the items in question are made in the Philippines. This is a LIE - FBC has shipping data showing William's Sonoma's imports from Burma, and items in their stores are clearly marked "Made in Myanmar" - the regime's name for Burma...

Return any catalogs that you receive from Pottery Barn by marking them “Return to Sender” and writing, “Don’t Import from Burma” on the catalog. And you can fax the Pottery Barn at 1-702-363-2541. And there is a store locator linked to the front page of their website at www.potterybarn.com if people want to call their local store, or picket and leaflet outside it. ALSO! The Free Burma Coalition is planning a day of action against Pottery Barn’s Burma connection on September 15, 2001. There will be nationwide protests in cities across the US including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, DC, Portland, and San Francisco. Please email dbeeton@freeburmacoalition.org if you would like to organize a demonstration at your local Pottery Barn on that day.

WHY?: Despite FBC requests for Pottery Barn to cut its ties with the brutal regime of Burma, Pottery Barn continues to do business with Burma's military thugs. The Free Burma Coalition has written two letters to the CEO and Chairman of Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma, W. Howard Lester, requesting that the companies stop supporting this system of forced labor and stop importing from Burma. So far, we have received no response. In the meantime, Pottery Barn continues to sell the “Martaban Collection” of baskets, so named for the Gulf of Martaban just south of Rangoon in Burma, in its catalogs and stores.

This is unacceptable!

The people of Burma have requested that the international community keep its business out of Burma until democracy is restored. It is a known fact that the ruling regime profits from international business deals and foreign investment, which further perpetuates a system of forced labor in the country. Pottery Barn deserves a badge of shame for doing business with the Burmese regime. Shoppers who buy Pottery Barn’s home furnishings have a right to know who the company does business with and under what types of conditions their “chic” home furnishings are being made.

Watch the Free Burma Coalition website at www.freeburmacoalition.org for continuing developments in our efforts to get Pottery Barn to become a good global citizen and stop doing business with Burma’s junta…