July 4, 2003
Source: India Abroad
On July 4, 2003 India Abroad reported that Gold Medal Hosiery Company put out a line of socks "with 'Om' displayed all over [them]... The designer who created the motifs for the socks conceded she was unaware of the religious sensibilities of putting the symbols on an article of footwear... Gaurang Desai, a Fremont, CA-based community activist... [said] 'It's ok for shirts or trousers or even caps to have these symbols, but footwear is demeaning; here it is okay to put symbols on shoes but in our culture, shoes are considered unclean. It is up to us to educate them about our culture.'"