Roseland, New Jersey-based Annin Flagmakers, in operation since 1847, announced it would stop production and sale of the Confederate flag. The decision comes in the wake of the shooting that left nine dead at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C. last week.
In a statement to Promo Marketing, Annin Flagmakers said the following:
“Due to the controversy surrounding the Confederate flag, we have decided to cease offering the Confederate Battle and Confederate Field Artillery flags in all sizes and materials. Flags are very powerful symbols, and clearly this flag has become a symbol of a negative aspect of our countries past. For some people, it represents something very negative and hateful. The confederate flags make up a very small part of our business (.0001 percent) and are predominantly sold through our flag specialty retailers to Civil War reenactors.”
Annin Flagmakers, the nation’s oldest and largest flag manufacturer, also sells state, custom, historical and international flags. According to NJ.com, the Confederate flags had just two styles listed in its catalog, mostly selling to small, southern retailers and Civil War reenactment communities.
But Annin Flagmakers is not alone in its decision. Wyomissing, Pennsylvania-based Valley Forge Flag, another chief U.S. flag maker, has also decided to discontinue production of Confederate flags, according to CBS Philly.
Major retailers, including Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Sears, are also pulling all Confederate flag merchandise from their inventories, including T-shirts, belt buckles, handbags, jewelry, folding knives and more. Amazon’s decision is particularly notable as the company had seen an uptick in the sale of Confederate flags on the site prior to the choice to pull all merchandise.
The Confederate flag has become the source of much debate in the past week. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley made a call to state legislature for the removal of the Confederate flag from the state capitol grounds after pictures surfaced of the 21-year-old who confessed to the murders of the Charleston tragedy holding a gun and waving the Confederate flag.
