The consumer product safety commission recently issued a recall for children's bathrobes because they are considered highly flammable. The robes were made of 100% cotton terry cloth. Even though a bathrobe is not technically sleepwear, it is a piece of clothing that is connected to sleeping and thus must comply with the Children's Sleepwear standard.
More information can be found on the children's sleepwear standard (read this letter on loungewear too). It took me over an hour to finally find links to these two pieces of information and I read lots of interesting information on other products. If you go to the CPSC site, be sure to click on the Business link for guides and summaries.
Since you can read the government regulations at the links above, I won't repeat much of it here. Suffice it to say, the actual Flammable Fabric Act applies to just about all fabrics and articles of clothing (there are some exceptions). Some fabrics that consistently fail flammability testing include: sheer rayon or silk, rayon chenille, cotton fleeces, and cotton terry cloth. Synthetic fabrics (polyester, nylon, acrylics) or wool fabrics are generally exempt. This is because these fabrics either simply melt or do not hold a flame once the flame source is removed.
If you design childrenswear consisting of any suspect fabric, you should take the time to send either your fabric or clothing to a testing lab. A flammability test can run anywhere from $200-$500, depending on the lab. Small change compared to a burn lawsuit.
Next time I will tackle children's safety and bedding.
2019 note - The links to the recall and the CPSC are no longer good. If you do click through, you will have to search the database for the relevant information.
September 25, 2006
September 20, 2006
Recall : Hooded sweatshirts with drawstrings
Two recent product recalls on children's clothing prompts me to issue a reminder. There are two major safety issues in relation to children's clothing. The first is drawstrings and the second is flammability.
Drawstrings
It never fails. I have seen drawstrings in one form or another on children's clothing each season. The consumer product safety commission (cpsc) recently issued a recall for hooded sweatshirts with drawstrings. The fact that these products made it into a major department store shows multiple failures along the vendor supplier chain. Nearly all products sold in a department store must pass some form of inspection. If this is a private label for Kohl's, then the failure is even greater. A major department store chain usually has a technical designer and quality auditor over every division. A private label garment must be approved by a technical designer, who is responsible that the garment not only fits, but is safe. A quality auditor is supposed to ensure quality standards and compliance during and after manufacturing. Both individuals should KNOW of the safety guidelines on drawstrings which have been in existence since 1996.
Another layer of failure is at the buyer level. A childrenswear buyer should also know the rule and should not even consider an item with a drawstring. I can guarantee Kohl's will either severely reprimand or fire the buyers and technical designers over that division. Not only is this a major financial issue for the company, but an accident waiting to happen.
Most major department stores are so concerned about the drawstring issue, that they have self-imposed their own safety guidelines. In other words, they have banned any type of item that dangles beyond a certain point. Waist ties on dresses can only be so long. Bibs no longer have bias ties. No knots (trims, pom-poms, flowers, etc) on the end of strings. Those large, pretty sashes found on girls special occassion dresses have to be shortened. Hoodies have elastic in the hood hem instead of drawstrings.
Boutique and specialty stores do not understand this safety issue sufficiently, and I still see drawstrings on childrens clothing. If you are a children's designer, be sure to pay attention to safety issues!
Next time: Product recall on children's bathrobes.
Drawstrings
It never fails. I have seen drawstrings in one form or another on children's clothing each season. The consumer product safety commission (cpsc) recently issued a recall for hooded sweatshirts with drawstrings. The fact that these products made it into a major department store shows multiple failures along the vendor supplier chain. Nearly all products sold in a department store must pass some form of inspection. If this is a private label for Kohl's, then the failure is even greater. A major department store chain usually has a technical designer and quality auditor over every division. A private label garment must be approved by a technical designer, who is responsible that the garment not only fits, but is safe. A quality auditor is supposed to ensure quality standards and compliance during and after manufacturing. Both individuals should KNOW of the safety guidelines on drawstrings which have been in existence since 1996.
Another layer of failure is at the buyer level. A childrenswear buyer should also know the rule and should not even consider an item with a drawstring. I can guarantee Kohl's will either severely reprimand or fire the buyers and technical designers over that division. Not only is this a major financial issue for the company, but an accident waiting to happen.
Most major department stores are so concerned about the drawstring issue, that they have self-imposed their own safety guidelines. In other words, they have banned any type of item that dangles beyond a certain point. Waist ties on dresses can only be so long. Bibs no longer have bias ties. No knots (trims, pom-poms, flowers, etc) on the end of strings. Those large, pretty sashes found on girls special occassion dresses have to be shortened. Hoodies have elastic in the hood hem instead of drawstrings.
Boutique and specialty stores do not understand this safety issue sufficiently, and I still see drawstrings on childrens clothing. If you are a children's designer, be sure to pay attention to safety issues!
Next time: Product recall on children's bathrobes.
September 12, 2006
My thoughts on September 11th
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| Beyond My Ken [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)] |
I don't know why the 5th year anniversary was so hard. Anyone that works in the fashion industry has ties to people in New York City. I didn't personally know anyone that died in the attacks, but I still grieved for the people of New York, a city that I love.
The last time I flew on a plane was April 2001 to New York. This was a business trip and I attended the fabric show at the Javitts center and met with fabric sales reps. One showroom is on 27th and Broadway, the closest I was to the business area of town on that trip. On a previous trip, I had toured that area and taken the boat out to Ellis Island. I still have my picture of the twin towers from the boat. Since I have to fly from the west coast, I can't help but think I could have been on one of those planes...
Between April and September I got married, moved and changed jobs. I happened to land a job with a small design company. My first day on the job was Sept 11, 2001. As I was getting ready for the day, I saw the second plane hit. Then I watched the towers collapse. I was in quite a state when I called my employer and asked if we were still working. We were. For most of that day we listened to the radio, in shock.
My new employer needed a fabric source. I knew of one, but the rep was located in New York City. I felt like such a snake calling him up one week later and asking for a swatch. I could feel the pain in his voice.
Sept 11th is a hard day for me. I still grieve for the people that died.
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