Safety Standards for Children’s Winter Clothing

Manufacturers and designers of children’s winter clothes should consider how young con-sumers might behave when wearing such products – and take the necessary safety pre-cautions.

What are the hazards?
The hazards associated with children’s clothes include restricted blood flow – e.g. socks, gloves, sleeves, being too tight – or the injuries caused by entrapment, sharp objects or tripping. Certain clothes may also present choking and swallowing hazards, the potential for strangulation and suffocation, and exposure to the possible consequences of restricted vision or hearing (e.g. with hoods) and the dangers of overheating (e.g. baby sleeping bags).

What Standards Apply?
The European Union’s General Product Safety Directive (GPSD) 2001 defines a safe prod-uct as one that under “normal or reasonably foreseeable” conditions of use presents no risk or only the minimum risk compatible with the product’s use. In addition, the product must be consistent with a high level of protection for consumers.

Products are also likely to be subject to specific regulations, national and international standards, industry Codes of Practice and so on, such as:

• CEN/TR 16792 – promotes mechanical safety in the design and manufacture of children’s clothing
• EN 14682 – relates to cords and drawstrings (recently updated; see below)
• EN 14878 – regulates the burning behavior of children’s nightwear for Europe
• BS 5722 – concerns the flammability performance of fabrics/fabric combinations used in UK nightwear and is more stringent than EN 14878
• EN 13758-2 – governs the solar ultra-violet (UV) protective properties of garments
• BS 8466 – covers hats and the protection against solar UV rays that they provide
• EN 71 – regarding mechanical safety (Part 1); flammability (2); migration of certain elements (3)

EN 14682:2014 – An update on Cords and Drawstrings
Compliance with a harmonized standard such as EN 14682 gives the “presumption of con-formity” to the product. However, there are limits to the scope of EN 14682 and some items are out of its scope. This means that while the standard may be used where applica-ble, there’s no automatic “presumption of conformity” for:

• Bibs, nappies and holders for dummies/soothers
• Shoes, boots and similar footwear
• Gloves, hats, bonnets and scarves
• Neckties for shirts and blouses
• Belts (although tied belts are within scope) and braces
• Theatrical costumes used for theatrical performances
• Bags and purses
• The following items, if worn for limited periods and under supervision:
o Religious and celebratory clothing (e.g. during ceremonies)
o Specialist sports and activity clothing (e.g. rugby shorts, dancewear) – ex-cept if commonly worn as daywear or nightwear
o Aprons intended to be worn over daywear

EN 14682:2014 outlines some general requirements for these items. For example, no func-tional cords should emerge (or be tied) at the back, unless the item is defined as a sash. In addition, the ends of cords must be sealed to prevent fraying and unraveling and shouldn’t include an entrapment hazard (such as a knot or toggle). However, a toggle can appear on a decorative cord under certain restrictions.

The 2014 update to EN 14682 specifies what’s permissible on clothing in relation to five body zones: the head, neck and upper chest; the chest and waist; below the hips; the back; and the arms.

How Can SGS Help?
SGS can help clothes designers and manufacturers to ensure that their products conform to all the relevant national and international standards, including EN 14682:2014 and the GPSD 2001.

For more information about the softlines services on offer from SGS, contact:

Robert Croskell
Softlines Technical Specialist
SGS United Kingdom Ltd
t: +44 (0)1379 668625
Email: cts.media@sgs.com
Website: www.sgs.com/softlines

About SGS
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 90,000 em-ployees, SGS operates a network of over 2,000 offices and laboratories around the world.

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This release was published on openPR.