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Children's Sleepwear Regulation
By U.S. Consumer Producr Safety Commision
To protect children from burns, these rules require that children's
sleepwear must be flame resistant and self-extinguish if a flame
from a candle, match lighter or a similar item causes it to catch
fire. The rules cover all children's sleepwear above size 9
months and up to size 14 and require that
- the fabric and garments must pass certain flammability tests;
or
- be "tight fitting" as defined by specified dimensions.
The regulations are published in the Code of Federal Relations in
Title 16, Part 1616 for children's sleepwear sized 7 through
14. The two rules contain basically the same requirements, with
the main difference being the sizes of the garments covered by each.
Children's sleepwear is any article of clothing, such as a
nightgown, pajama, robe, or loungewear, that is sized above 9 months
and up to size 14 and that is intended to be worn primarily for
sleeping or activities related to sleeping. To determine whether
a garment is sleepwear, the Commission considers:
- The nature of the garment and its suitability for sleeping
or activities related to sleeping;
- How the garment is promoted and distributed; and
- The likelihood that the garment will be used by children primarily
for sleeping or activities related to sleeping in substantial
number of cases.
A garment sized nine months or smaller intended for use by infants
is not required to meet the standard if:
- It is one-piece garment and is not longer than 25 ¾
inches, or it is a two-piece garment and has no piece longer than
15 ¾ inches; and
- It has a label stating in months the age of the children for
whom it is intended.
Even though these types of garments are exempt form the requirements
of this rule, they must still meet the flammability requirements
for clothing textiles, 16 C.F.R. 1610 and vinyl plastic film, 16
C.F.R. 1611.
Because of the detail in the regulation, we have only provided a
general overview of the sampling and testing requirements. For more
detailed information about the test equipment and procedure, sampling
garments or fabrics, selecting specimens, and other requirements,
please refer to the regulation or contact the Office of Compliance.
The general test uses a sample of five 3 ½ inch by 10 inch
specimens cut from the fabric or garment seams and trim being tested.
Each specimen is tested separately. Place each specimen in a metal
holder and suspend each holder vertically in the test cabinet. Apply
the gas flame to the bottom edge of the specimen for 3 seconds.
Measure the char length of each specimen.
Testing for flammability involves selecting and testing specified
number of samples of three different items—fabric, prototype
seams and trim, and production garment seams. Fabric (or garments)
must be tested as produced (or after one laundering) and after 50
launderings.Depending on the result of testing, an item may be accepted,
rejected, or required additional sampling and testing. In general,
a sample of five specimens cannot have an average char length greater
than 7.0 inches or have more than a specified number of individual
10 inch char lengths.
Fabric: Finished fabric that is ready to be made
into sleepwear must by grouped into Fabric Production Units (FPUs)
and tested before you use the fabric to make prototype garments.
An FPU may be up to 5,000 linear yards of the fabric. You may include
different colors or print patterns of the same FPU if they exhibit
similar burn characteristics. Test one sample of five specimens
form each end of each FPU (two samples per FPU). The FPU is accepted
or rejected based upon the fabric sampling plan criteria. If 15
consecutive FPUs of a fabric are accepted, the number of linear
yards of fabric in the FPU may be increased. If an FPU is rejected,
subsequent FPUs must be tested with a third sample of five specimens
taken from the middle of the FPU.
Garment prototype: Before you actually produce garments
that will be sold, you must test prototypes of each garment design
characteristics. This testing helps to ensure that you have designed
a garment that will comply with the standards when it is mass-produced.
Seam types and trim that will actually be used in the garments must
be tested. Most sleeve and neckline bindings/rib cuffs do not have
to be tested. Test three samples, five specimens each, of the longest
seam type, three samples of each different seam type 10 inches or
longer, and three samples of each type of trim. Prototype seams
and trims are accepted or rejected based upon the prototype sampling
plan criteria.
Production garments: Finished garments produced for
dale must be grouped into Garment Production Units (GPUs) and tested.
One GPU may include up to 500 dozen garments. A GPU may include
garments with different trim fasteners, as long as the other characteristics
of the garments (e.g. fabric, thread, and seam construction), are
identical, except for size, color, and print pattern. From randomly
selected garments, test three samples, five specimens each, from
the longest type of seam. GPUs are accepted or rejected based upon
the production garment sampling plan.
Rejected unites may not be retested, used, or promoted for use in
children's sleepwear. Rejected units can by destroyed, exported
(only with CPSC approval), or reworked to improve their flammability
resistance. You must retest reworked units according to the FPU
and GPU testing procedure. Such units must comply with the flammability
requirements before the fabric or garments are introduced into commerce
as children's sleepwear.
Tight-fitting sleepwear garments must
- not exceed the maximum dimensions specified in the regulations
for the chest, waist, seat, upper arm, thigh, wrist, or ankle;
- have no fabric ornament or trim, such as lace or ribbon, which
extends more than ¼ inch from the point at which it is
attached to the garment;
- have sleeves that taper from the shoulders to the ends of the
sleeves
- have pant legs that taper from the thighs to the ends of the
pant legs;
- if they are 1-piece, taper from the chest down to the waist
and from the seat up to the top of the piece;
- if they are 2-piece,
- have an upper piece that tapers from the chest to the bottom
of the piece,
- if the upper piece has fastenings, have the lowest fastening
located within 6 inches of the bottom of the piece, and
- have a lower piece that tapers from the seat to the top
of the piece;
- bear a permanent label stating size garment.
- bear a hang tag alerting buyers that the garments are not flame-resistant
and should be worn snug fitting because loose-fitting garments
are more likely to catch fire
- comply with all of the flammability requirements for clothing
textiles and vinyl plastic film.
Retailers, distributors and wholesalers of children's sleepwear
(including infant sleepwear (size 9 months and under) and tight
fitting sleepwear) should
- not advertise, promote, or sell as children's sleepwear,
any garment which another party has indicated does not meet the
requirements of the children's sleepwear flammability standards
and/or are not intended or suitable for use as sleepwear;
- place or advertise fabrics and garments covered by the children's
sleepwear standards in different parts of a department, store,
catalog, or website, from those in which fabrics and garments
which may resemble but are not children's sleepwear are sold
or marketed;
- use store display signs, and/or catalog or website notations
that point out the differences between different types of fabrics
and garments, for example, by indicating which are sleepwear items
and which are not; and
- avoid advertising or promoting garments or fabrics that do
not comply with the children's sleepwear standards in a manner
that may cause consumers to view those items as children's
sleepwear or as being suitable for making such sleepwear.
Yes, for sleepwear garments that meet the flammability performance
requirements there are additional requirements. Please refer to
the regulation for more detailed information. In general:
- each article of children's sleepwear must have a permanent
label with instructions on how to take care of the garment to
protect it from chemicals or other treatments that can reduce
its flame resistance;
- children's sleepwear must have a permanent label with
a unit identification (number, letter, date, or combination thereof)
so manufacturers can track the garment's associated fabric
and garment production lots in the event of a recall;
- manufacturers and importers must maintain written records as
specified in the regulations.
Yes. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has labelling laws that
apply to clothing. Contact the FTC for more information. In addition,
even though functional attachments to clothing, such as buttons
and zipper pulls, are exempt from the "Small Parts" regulation,
we recommend that you voluntarily test such attachments on garments
up to and including size 2 to ensure that those children cannot
choke, aspirate, or swallow those attachments. (See the "use
and abuse" tests described at 16 C.F.R. 1500.50 through 1500.52
and the small parts requirements at 16 C.F.R. Part 1501.)
Information provided by the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission, Office of Compliance.
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