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Sign of the Times

U.S. entrepreneur markets Soviet souvenir tee-shirts in Russia.

By Martha E. Mangelsdorf | 
 

When tourists in the USSR see "I * Leningrad" T-shirts for sale, they may think capitalism has really arrived. In a way it has -- except the shirts are made in America. After being adorned with sights like the Moscow Metro, they are exported by a U.S. entrepreneur, Andrew Harkuscha of Jamaica, N.Y.-based World Marketing Technologies. Why can't the Russians produce their own kitsch? Harkuscha says the Soviet system can't match his ability to accommodate diverse T-shirt tastes with some 50 designs, from the Stolichnaya vodka label to the Soviet flag. He, meanwhile, is happy to cater to customers' desires, as long as they pay in hard currency. "I want to turn the Soviet Union into one large shopping mall."

-- Martha E. Mangelsdorf

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