The plan seemed so simple: Create reasonably priced fashionable clothes for American women and use a percentage of the profits to create loving homes for HIV-positive and crack-addicted babies and children. Yet this effort ran headlong into the complex issue of where and how clothes are made.

In all candor, it was anger that initially galvanized my response. To suggest that I would support putting children in factories anywhere in the world bordered on obscenity. But anger won't solve the problem. Only action will.

Working with President Clinton, New York Governor George Pataki, and others, including my association with the White House Apparel Industry Partnership, I am proud to participate in aggressive initiatives to raise consumer awareness while focusing the spotlight on sweatshop operators. To ensure that responsible working conditions are met in factories manufacturing Kathie Lee fashions, we established an independent monitoring program including surprise factory inspections to check working conditions. In coordination with Wal-Mart, which distributes Kathie Lee fashions, we already have prevented some 100 factories in 16 countries that did not meet fair standards from working on our garments. This is not a solution, but it is a responsible start.

I believe that something good has come out of this wrenching experience. The sunlight that shines though the windows of Cody's House and Cassidy's Place will now not only touch the faces of children born with punishing afflictions but will help light the darkness in factories where the dignity of labor has been forgotten.