Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 17:35:07 EST

From: CLAndrus CLAndrus[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM

Subject: Re: towelhead



About 10 years ago, many of the retail fabric stores in the fabric district

(W. 38-40th streets in NYC) began to change over to Indian and Bangladesh

immigrant ownership...many of the Indians were Sirds (Sikhs) who wear turbans.

As the ownership changed and the buying tastes of newer populations changed,

the types of fabrics changed...glitzier, lots of gold-thread stuff, wilder

prints, etc. Not much of the old "classic" stuff. So I began to hear some

women friends who used to shop there say they didn't go down there anymore

because all the fabrics were "towelhead taste." I haven't heard it used

lately because we have so many Sikhs now in NYC (loads of cabdrivers,

newsstand owners, etc.) that everyone knows the term "Sikh" now.