New CPSIA Development: Fabric & Yarn Now Exempt

[ This is one in a series of posts by Susan Maphis covering the impact of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). For more information about the CPSIA, read Susan's previous article: The End Of Handmade and sign up for her CPSIA Alerts Mailing List ]

The CPSIA has voted to make fabric and yarn exempt from testing and certification requirements for children’s products under the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). However, because fasteners on children’s clothing, such as snaps, zippers, and buttons, will still need to be tested for lead, which means that the final garment as a whole is still required to be tested under the act.

The CPSIA released a statement about this decision, saying, “After reviewing and verifying this test data, the staff was able to determine that most textile products are manufactured using processes that do not introduce lead or result in an end product that would exceed the CPSIA’s lead limits.”

Some children’s handcrafters are excited about this ruling. Jennifer Cirka of etsy shop Jaybird Designs says she is happy to be able to make children’s products again, “as long as I don’t add zippers, buttons, snaps, and such.” Time will tell if this new ruling will really make a difference for manufacturers of children’s products.

[ For more information about the CPSIA, read Susan's previous article: The End Of Handmade]