Learn and understand! Learn about imported children’s clothing related knowledge and standards, and develop a pair of discerning eyes!

Learn about imported children's clothing knowledge and standards, and develop discerning eyes!

Children are the flowers of the motherland and the future of the nation. The health and safety of children require the care of the whole society. Children’s clothing is related to their physical health. Children should not only wear beautiful and cute clothes, but also wear healthy and safe clothes. When purchasing imported children’s clothing, you need to learn and understand some relevant knowledge and standards of imported children’s clothing, develop a pair of sharp eyes, consume rationally, and minimize the harm caused by unqualified children’s clothing. Listen to Mr. Guan’s talk about this.

1. Pay attention to physical safety risks

Ropes and Straps

The ropes and straps on the head and neck may accidentally strangle or suffocate children, especially toddlers, due to unconscious winding or accidental hooking; ropes and straps that are too long on the chest, waist, and other parts may cause dragging and casualties during children’s play.

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Decorations and Small Parts

Beautiful decorations and small parts can certainly add selling points to clothing, but children’s curiosity may tear and bite them, causing decorations and small parts to separate or fall off, which can easily cause swallowing or choking injuries.

Weak Sewing and Poor Adhesive Strength

The sewing strength of various buttons, rivets, flashing decorative pieces, and other decorative parts does not meet the required tensile strength, and the adhesive strength of local prints and hot-drilled products is poor, etc., which can easily cause small parts to fall off and pose a risk of swallowing or other safety hazards to children.

Residual Broken Needles

The residual broken needles in children’s clothing will cause harm to the tender skin of children.

Domestic and international standard technology regulations

GB 31701-2015 “Safety Technical Specifications for Infants and Children’s Textile Products”

GB/T 22705-2019 “Safety Requirements for Ropes and Straps in Children’s Clothing”

EU standard BS EN 14682-2014 “Safety of children’s clothing – Cords and drawstrings – Specifications” and technical report CEN/TR 17376-2019 “Textiles – Safety of children’s clothing – Cords and drawstrings – Specifications”

Japanese standard JIS L 4129:2015 “Guidelines for the use of cord and drawstring specifications for the safety of children’s clothing”

Korean standard KS 0941-2014 “Safety of children’s clothing – Cords and drawstrings – Specifications”

Preventive suggestions

● Avoid clothing with small parts such as ropes, belts, buttons, and complicated designs as much as possible. Check whether the buttons, zippers and other small parts of children’s clothing are firm, and whether the drawstrings are too long. In particular, the drawstrings on windbreakers and necks should not have free ends.

● Prefer plastic zippers and avoid using metal zippers because the surface layer of metal zippers is easy to peel off and can affect children’s health.

● When buying clothes, also pay attention to the thread ends and coils on the clothes. If they come loose, they should be trimmed off, otherwise they may wrap around children’s fingers and toes and cause injury.

● Carefully check the clothes for sharp objects before wearing them to prevent children from being stabbed.

2. Pay attention to chemical safety risks

1. The surface materials contain banned azo dyes (decomposable aromatic amine dyes).

2. The pH value does not meet the standard requirements and exceeds the limit of pH 4.0-7.5 for products that directly contact the skin and pH 4.0-9.0 for products that do not directly contact the skin.

3. The formaldehyde content exceeds the specified requirements. The formaldehyde content limit for infant clothing is 20mg/kg.

4. The heavy metal content exceeds the standard, with lead exceeding the limit of 90mg/kg and cadmium exceeding the limit of 100mg/kg.

5. The content of phthalates (plasticizers) exceeds the limit: (DEHP, DBP, and BBP) 0.1%, (DINP, DIDP, and DNOP) 0.1%.

6. The color fastness is unqualified.

• It is harmful to the human body through skin and respiratory exposure, causing strong irritation to children’s skin, mucous membranes, and respiratory tract, causing skin and respiratory system damage and causing various inflammations.

• Skin contact with formaldehyde can cause sensitization, rashes, etc. After long-term contact with decomposable aromatic amine dyes on textiles, there is a risk of lesions and even cancer.

• The toxicity to infants is manifested in asthma, bronchitis, chromosomal abnormalities, decreased resistance, etc., and may seriously induce cancer. Children like to chew and suck on textiles, which may directly cause toxic reactions.

Domestic and foreign standards and technical regulations:

GB 18401-2010 “National Textile Product Safety Technical Specifications”

GB 31701-2015 “Safety Technical Specification for Infants and Children’s Textile Products”

European Oeko-tex100 “Ecological Textile Standard”

European BSEN14682-2014 “EU Children’s Textile Safety Regulations”

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) “Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act” in the United States

Preventive Suggestions

● When selecting, you can vigorously rub the clothing fabric, smell it after heating, and if there is a stimulating odor, do not purchase it.

● After purchasing clothing, consumers should carefully wash it once or twice before wearing it for their children. If it fades severely or has an odor, do not let children wear it.

● When purchasing clothing for infants and young children, choose clothing with small patterns, preferably light-colored clothing. When purchasing black or dark clothing, try to buy clothing with safety labels from reputable stores.

3 Pay attention to fire safety risks

When choosing fabrics for children’s clothing, especially pajamas, most will consider using flame-retardant fabrics. The reason is that children lack the ability to self-rescue in the event of a fire. Ordinary fabrics burn too fast or produce melting after burning, which can cause children to be burned, scalded, or even life-threatening. Flame-retardant and heat-insulating fabrics can play a protective role to a certain extent, providing more time to avoid burns and escape.

Domestic and foreign standard technical regulations

GB 31701-2015 “Technical Specifications for Safety of Infants and Children’s Textile Products”

US Children’s Sleepwear Burning Regulations 16 CFR Part 1615 “Children’s Sleepwear (0-6X) Flammability Standard” and 16 CFR Part 1616 “Children’s Sleepwear (7-14) Flammability Standard”

Canadian “Hazardous Products (Children’s Sleepwear) Regulations” (SOR/87-443)

United States Children’s Sleepwear Flammability Regulations 16 CFR Part 1615 “Flammability Standard for Children’s Sleepwear (0-6X)” and 16 CFR Part 1616 “Flammability Standard for Children’s Sleepwear (7-14)” requirements for labels and record-keeping:

1. Each piece of children’s sleepwear must have a permanent label indicating how to care for the garment to protect it from chemicals or other processes that may reduce its flame resistance.

2. Children’s sleepwear must have a permanent label with a unit identification (number, letter, date, or combination thereof) so that manufacturers can trace the relevant fabric and clothing production batches when recalling the garments.

3. Manufacturers and importers must maintain written records as specified in the regulations.

Customs Supervision

According to the unified deployment of the General Administration of Customs to strengthen the quality and safety supervision of imported children’s clothing, it is necessary to effectively maintain the health and safety of children and infants.

Typical Case One

A certain company imported girls’ floral dresses from the United Kingdom. The test results from the Chengdu Customs Technical Center showed that the labeling, wet friction fastness, and rope and band projects were unqualified, which did not comply with the relevant provisions in GB 18401-2010 “National basic safety technical specifications for textile products” and GB 31701-2015 “Safety technical specifications for infant and children’s textile products,” GB/T 5296.4-2012 “Instructions for use of consumer products Part 4: Textile products and clothing instructions for use,” and other related regulations.

Typical Case Two

A certain company imported summer children’s sun protection clothing from South Korea. The test results from the Chengdu Customs Technical Center showed that the alkali sweat fastness project was unqualified, which did not comply with the relevant provisions in GB 18401-2010 “National basic safety technical specifications for textile products.”

Shopping Tips

Tip One: Consumers should purchase imported children’s clothing through formal sales channels, and keep the purchase receipts.

Tip Two: Formal imported children’s clothing should have Chinese labels, indicating the clothing manufacturer, address, product name, model, composition content, etc. Children’s textile products should indicate the standard number and the category of safety technical requirements that they comply with (such as Class A, Class B, or Class C in GB 31701). Infant textile products should comply with Class A requirements; children’s textile products that directly contact the skin should comply with at least Class B requirements, and children’s textile products that do not directly contact the skin should comply with at least Class C requirements.

Tip Three: Check whether the buttons, zippers and other small parts of the children’s clothing are firm, whether the drawstring is too long, and whether the stitching of the main parts is flat and straight, especially for the drawstring at the hood and neck.

Tip Four: Smell the clothing to see if there is any odor. If there is a special odor, especially a stimulating odor, it is likely that the formaldehyde is excessive.

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