With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it might be useful for you to know the labelling laws surrounding children's Halloween fancy dress costumes. If you're not already aware, there have been several serious accidents involving children's Halloween costumes in the past, one being Claudia Winkleman's daughter. She was 8 at the time and wearing a witch's costume when it brushed against a lit candle in a pumpkin at a house whilst they were out Trick or Treating. The costume quickly caught fire and she suffered 3rd degree burns over much of her body.
Incidents like this have prompted stricter testing and labelling laws in the UK to ensure costumes are safe for children to wear.
But before we delve into the specific laws surrounding children's fancy dress, let's start with the basic labelling requirements for all businesses selling children's clothes...
FABRIC CONTENT:
Did you know that all manufacturers distributing in the UK and EU (including small handmade businesses) have a legal obligation to inform you of the fabric content of the garments they are selling? So what does this mean?
To put it simply, it is the fabric composition of the textile product being used to make the clothes, e.g. 100% cotton. And this content must be an exact percentage of any material that comprises more than 15% of the total weight of the product, and every material MUST BE listed!!!
Now, UK law doesn't actually stipulate how a garment should be labelled but the following are all acceptable:
a sewn in fabric label
a swing tag
a label that forms part of the packaging
So, if you are considering purchasing a piece of children's clothing and any of these are not present... stay clear!
CARE INSTRUCTIONS:
Now, you may assume that labels with care instructions are also a legal requirement, but unfortunately they are not! Despite this, it is strongly encouraged as if a customer were to damage a garment where any care instructions are missing the business may be liable for any costs of repair or replacement.
Although the care symbols often used on such labels are easy to gain succinct information to take proper care of the garment, these symbols are actually registered trademarks. They are owned by GINETEX and businesses need to have a license to use them. Many small businesses therefore opt for wording instructions such as, 'Wash at 30 degrees'.
Did you know that, according to GINETEX
more than 8 out of 10 consumers find a care label useful
71% of consumers follow the care instructions
74% never or rarely buy a garments without a care label
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
Clothing in the UK do not legally have to have to carry a 'country of origin' label either. However, fraudulent labelling is illegal... so if a UK company prints graphics onto garments (e.g. jumpers with slogans on the chest) but the garment was originally made in Hong Kong they cannot label their product as 'Made in the UK'.
SIZE LABELS:
By UK and EU laws, a business does not need to add a size label to their children's clothes. Mad, I know! No wonder sizing differs from shop to shop!
FLAMMABILITY:
In the UK there are very strict laws over fire safety concerning children's nightwear (and garments commonly worn as nightwear). Children's nightwear MUST satisfy the flammability requirements specified in the British Standard 5722. ALL NIGHTWEAR has to either:
be made of a material that passes certain flammability testing standards after it has been washed
have a 'KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE' warning printed in red block capitals
Due to babies sleeping in their clothes most of the time, it is therefore common practice for small businesses to include the 'KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE' safety label in all clothing.
Now let's get onto the nitty gritty...
CHILDREN'S COSTUMES:
I have a particular interest in this area, as I want to ensure that what I was creating and selling is safe for your children to wear! Fortunately, I'm not selling children's costumes... I'm selling children's clothes inspired by animals. The garments I have created have been designed for your children to wear everyday as clothes. You'll be pleased to know that I have followed all the safety laws surrounding children's clothes (you can read about these in my other blog post) and I adhere to the labelling standards mentioned above - fabric content, care instructions, size labels, location of origin (Salisbury) & flammability. Child safety is extremely important to me and I want you to know that you can have the confidence to purchase for your children from me!
Now, moving on from that, whether they've been made for a specific occasion like Halloween or Christmas, or for simply playing around the house, fancy dress costumes do need to be safety tested to ensure they are safe to be worn by our children. As mentioned in the introduction, this has been necessary due to the number of serious incidents involving costumes.
So to start, my advice to parents purchasing costumes would be:
Check that the costume carries a CE or UKCA safety label - as all fancy dress costumes are considered toys
Check that the label also includes 'KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE' in bold red text (in all parts of the costume, e.g. trousers, cape, mask, top etc...)
Follow safety guidelines if using naked flames and candles as part of your celebrations:
Always supervise your children and pets
Do not allow children to carry, play, reach over or to be near candles,
Never leave a burning candle unattended
Always remember to extinguish the candle completely
Do not carry pumpkins with lit candles inside
Consider using battery operated candles instead
If fireworks are part of your celebrations, follow the Fireworks Code (https://www.rospa.com/policy/home-safety/advice/fireworks-safety)
Be aware that homemade fancy dress costumes have not been tested and may ignite easily and burn quickly
Ensure your children can be seen in the dark when out trick or treating - they should wear something reflective or carry a torch.
Better Halloween testing has been evolving to develop a testing standard for flammability of children's dress-up costumes and it is now suggested that costumes should have a burn rate of 10mm per minute. This is 300% slower than the current 30mm per minute standard.
Companies that have tested their products to this new standard will be allowed to print "This garment has undergone additional safety testing for flammability" on their labelling.
It may be more difficult to produce and sell costumes for children due to the increased testing and labelling required, but I hop you agree that these steps are completely necessary in order to keep our children safe!
So when you're out buying cheap costumes on the high street and in supermarkets, please remember the points have I mentioned above and check that the costume your child wants meets the required standards!
If you've found this short blog post useful then please do share it around and I'd love to know your thoughts on this, so please drop your comments below. Lizi xxx
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