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Jail switches to classic stripes because orange is too cool now

SAGINAW, Mich. — A Michigan sheriff says he’s trading orange jumpsuits for black-and-white stripes as the new attire for his jail inmates in part due to pop culture.

Saginaw County Sheriff William Federspiel tells The Saginaw News that all-orange jumpsuits are increasingly viewed as fashionable as they’re seen on TV in places such as the Netflix prison show “Orange Is the New Black.”

Federspiel says “some people think it’s cool to look like an inmate of the Saginaw County Jail with wearing all orange jumpsuits out at the mall or in public.” He says inmates sometimes work in public, and he doesn’t want there to be any confusion.

The jailhouse fashions come relatively cheap. The sheriff says the jumpsuits, which last for about two to three years of wear, cost $11.73 apiece.

Inmates wearing a mix of orange and black-and-white striped jumpsuits are lodged in a cell at the Saginaw County Jail on July 18.AP