LAKELAND

INDUSTRIES CALLS ON SEYMOUR HOLTZMAN

END HIS DISRUPTIVE PROXY CONTEST

RONKONKOMA, NY, April 16, 2008

- Lakeland Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: LAKE), a leading manufacturer of industrial

protective clothing for industry, municipalities, healthcare and to first

responders on the federal, state and local levels, today announced that it has

called upon veteran shareholder activist Seymour Holtzman to withdraw his letter

of nomination and terminate his disruptive proxy contest against Lakeland and

let management return its full attention to delivering on Lakeland's significant

potential and enhancing value for ALL Lakeland shareholders.

Lakeland has previously confirmed, it has received notice that an entity

affiliated with Mr. Holtzman intends to nominate two individuals, Mr. Holtzman

and Dennis R. Heinreich, for election to Lakeland's Board of Directors at

Lakeland's 2008 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The notice contained no

additional information regarding Mr. Holtzman's plans or

intentions. Both Mr. Holtzman and Mr. Heinreich serve as executive

officers of Casual Male Retail Group, Inc. (NasdaqGS: CMRG). Mr.

Holtzman serves as the Chairman of the Board of Casual Male and Mr. Heinreich

serves as the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief

Financial Officer of Casual Male. Mr. Holtzman is also a significant

stockholder in Casual Male.

J. Ryan, President and CEO of Lakeland, issued the following statement

commenting on Lakeland's request to Mr. Holtzman:

at a loss to understand how anyone, including Mr. Holtzman, could believe that

initiating a disruptive proxy contest against Lakeland is in the best interest

of ALL Lakeland stockholders. Unfortunately, the only one who has any

potential to benefit from this disruptive endeavor is Mr.

Holtzman. While we would much prefer to focus our time elsewhere such

as our numerous ongoing initiatives to enhance shareholder value, this proxy

contest, if continued, will be about the long-term future of Lakeland and we

will not be bullied into acceding to the demands of one dissident shareholder

seeking to further his own personal agenda. The Lakeland Board and

management strongly believe that Lakeland must be run like any other public

company - for the benefit of ALL shareholders - and are committed to doing just

that. We are very confident that Lakeland is moving in the right

Lakeland Board and management have a proven record of being committed to taking

tangible steps to enhance value for ALL shareholders as demonstrated by

Holtzman intends to pursue his disruptive proxy contest against Lakeland, we are

happy to contrast for our shareholders our public record of acting in the best

interest of ALL shareholders and taking tangible steps to enhance shareholder

value with his public record after assuming control of past targets such as

Casual Male and George Foreman Enterprises, Inc. (OTC BB:

GFME.OB). To examine Mr. Holtzman's record as we have, shareholders

need look no further than the numerous public filings through proxy

contests made with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by Mr.

Holtzman, Casual Male and George Foreman Enterprises. In particular,

Casual Male's various SEC filings, including, but not limited to, its annual

meeting proxy statements, provide a detailed discussion of the generous

compensation, consisting of cash plus stock options, that Mr. Holtzman or his

affiliated entity, Jewelcor Management, Inc., has been able to obtain from

Casual Male since he assumed effective control over it some nine years

that the Lakeland Board and management team beneficially own, in the aggregate,

approximately 20% of Lakeland's issued and outstanding shares, our interests are

closely aligned with those of ALL Lakeland shareholders. Accordingly,

on behalf of ALL Lakeland shareholders, we urge Mr. Holtzman to consider our

request to withdraw his letter of nomination and terminate his disruptive proxy

contest before it reaches a "point of no return" where both parties will have

"locked horns" in an acrimonious and costly proxy contest that does nothing to

help us all further the growth of shareholder

open to listening to all of Mr. Holtzman's ideas and suggestions on how we may

continue to enhance shareholder value, but his disruptive proxy contest does not

advance our ability to constructively engage with him and have those

discussions. We look forward to a positive response from Mr.

Holtzman, sooner rather than later, so that we may move beyond this unnecessary

distraction and return our full attention to delivering on Lakeland's very

significant potential and enhancing value for ALL Lakeland

Industries, Inc. and its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be

participants in the solicitation of proxies from stockholders in connection with

the Company's 2008 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The Company plans

to file a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") in

connection with the solicitation of proxies for the Annual

Meeting. Information concerning persons who may be considered

participants in the solicitation of the Company's stockholders under the rules

of the SEC is set forth in public filings filed by the Company with the SEC,

including its proxy statement relating to its 2007 Annual Meeting of

Stockholders, and will be set forth in its proxy statement relating to its 2008

Annual Meeting of Stockholders. These documents may be (currently or

when filed with the SEC) obtained free of charge at the SEC's website at

http://www.sec.gov and the Company's website at http://www.lakeland.com.

Lakeland Industries, Inc.:

Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: LAKE) manufactures and sells a comprehensive line of

safety garments and accessories for the industrial protective clothing

market. The Company's

are sold by a direct sales force and through independent sales representatives

to a network of over 1000 safety and mill supply distributors. These

distributors in turn supply end user industrial customers such as

chemical/petrochemical, automobile, steel, glass, construction, smelting,

janitorial, pharmaceutical and high technology electronics manufacturers, as

well as hospitals and laboratories. In addition, Lakeland supplies

federal, state, and local government agencies, fire and police departments,

airport crash rescue units, the Department of Defense, the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, and may other federal and state agencies. For

more information concerning Lakeland, please visit the Company online at www.lakeland.com.