Huge, Huge Changes for Ceewee Baby in the Coming Year

So my plan in this post was to write about how Ceewee Baby was going to expand. I was going to go into larger scale production, place many more products in a wider range of retail outlets...really ramp things up. This season has been great and although I have been keeping up with demand due to some out of character good planning, I realize I need to move things to the next level.

And then......

Because of the very public recalls of children's items that have happened in the past year, congress passed a new law (CPSIA) which gives the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) new guidelines for all apparel, and especially onerous ones for children's items. All children's items must be rigorously tested to ensure they conform to standards, such as minimum lead. While this sounds great (as a mom of 2 small boys, I do appreciate it), because of the way the law & subsequent regulations were written, it will effectively reduce, if not put out of business, many small & medium sized designers.

For instance, let's look at the Funky Monkey Sleep sack. Children product manufacturers must test the end product, not the materials used. I would have to test each color used in that fabric, but so would each and every other manufacturer that uses Funky Monkey fabric as well. We can not rely on certified testing from the fabric mill. I have heard estimates that for printed fabric items, testing can run upwards of $4,000. I will have to test each and every sleep sack print I offer. A more reasonable testing program would be to have 1 sleep sack tested, and then secure certifications from each fabric mill that the different prints are free of lead, etc. I think all manufacturers would be wiling to pay a few pennies more for fabric certified by the supplier, than to repeat the same test 1000 times on the same fabric.

But the law and regulations are written differently, for now. I am hoping for an amendment that has a more reasonable burden for manufacturers. If not, Ceewee Baby will hopefully be able to survive, but will more than likely only offer organic sacks. I know small manufacturers have been swamping the CPSC and hopefully new guidance/regulations will be offered. Hopefully.