Anyone have any idea of the amount of behind the scenes work that goes into producing kids pj's ?
I decided this year that making some cute pj's would be fun. Then I discover that it is illegal to sell any form of childrens sleepwear that has not been flammability tested. So I start the research... Okay, I found somewhere to do the testing. Good start!
So this is sounding okay... but wait... there's more. For testing you must submit a fully made garment. Size labels must be a specific size, like 1,2,3, not small, medium, large. And of course, the pj's must have fire rating labels. Still sounding okay... but then ... fire rating labels must also be tested for flammability! Yes, that's right, the tiny little labels that give buyers the information of the flammability rating. ( my personal thought is that if a kids pj's are on fire, it's not really gonna matter that much about the tag !!!) and not only must they be tested, but you are slugged another fee for that testing !
Still souding doable, albeit an annoyingly tedious process (but I fully appreciate the importance of it being that there are so many children who suffer burns every year)
But then... before you even make up your sample, you must purchase a copy of the Australian Standards, and make sure the pj's are designed within those specifications. And yep, you guesssed it, slugged another fee for that one.
So after many phone calls, lots and lots of google searching, and a few headaches, I have decided that I won't be making pj's :( By the time I pay for all the testing, I would need to charge a ridiculous price to make any sort of profit on them. I have a new appreciation for the cost that is charged for a pair of pj's !!!
Ahhhh well, maybe one day...
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Yep it's a costly item. My mum owned her own clothing label in the late 80's to late 90's (small boutique not nation wide) and she had to jump through hoops in the 90's to sell pj's after having sold them for years before.
ReplyDeleteShe already made them out of fire retardent fabric as she had been fully trained at college in fabrics etc but she still had to submit testing etc.
I guess though we have to be thankful the standard is there, it atleast gives kids a small chance should the house go up at night.
In the USA they now have to have EVERYTHING tested including thread, elastic, zippers etc for lead content and must have a certificate of testing available, plus each item made and sold must be labelled with a batch number and records kept so you can confirm 1. that testing was done and 2.know where each item went in case of needing to recall.
All this because a few idiots thought it would be a good idea to start selling kids clothes without going through the right channels.
I must say you had me excited when I saw pj's in your title lol... I thought I'd have a new pj's store to shop at lol (my kids have more pj's than clothes)
Wow! I do definately appreciate the need for the stringent testing, but yes, it does make it a bit out of reach for a small business like myself :( I will keep researching though, and hope that I can get it figured out with my small budget. I was excited too LOL
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