Children’s products producers take note. Your prompt response is required, these surveys will be taken down this weekend.
I rarely do this but here’s the cut and paste because it’s better than a summary I would write:
The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) Wants You!
Many have pointed out to the CPSC that the additional testing costs mandated by the CPSIA have been extremely burdensome on companies and have even caused many to either shut down or abandon the children’s product market. [ ] Concrete examples [of] Casualties of the Week are here, here and here.
Some are still not convinced. CPSC Commissioner Adler made the point at a recent CPSC briefing that “anecdotes are not evidence.”
The AAFA has been collecting information (“evidence”) from companies to see exactly how the testing rules have impacted their businesses. This information is important to help document to CPSC and Congress the economic impact of CPSIA.
To continue gathering data, AAFA recently published two surveys online to gauge the impact of consumer product testing. One survey is for manufacturers, wholesalers and suppliers and the other is for retailers and licensors.
If you are (or were) in the children’s product business, we strongly urge you to fill out this survey online. It only takes a few minutes.
The surveys are especially geared towards assessing the impact on businesses, and business awareness of, two proposed rulemakings that are due August 3, “Conditions and Requirements for Testing Component Parts of Consumer Products” and “Testing and Labeling Pertaining to Product Certification”, as well as how the stay of testing and certification requirements impact companies’ testing protocols and costs.
To access the survey for manufacturers, wholesalers and suppliers please visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/D6S3D7N
To access the survey for retailers and licensors please visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/D668GJT
Thank you for your participation.
If this is the first you’ve heard of CPSIA and you make items for kids aged 12 and younger, there’s a lot to catch up with. It’s not something you can worry about next week or month; you can lose your business or go to jail. Really. This law caused the majority of my childrenswear manufacturers to go out of business over the past two years.
Thank you for posting this. There has been some quiet on this issue for a while because of the stay, but that time is coming to an end. I’m glad organizations are still giving this their effort.
I am left wondering how many times we have to submit this information? It’s clear no one is listening. Maybe they will in November? One can only hope.
Thank you for posting this survey. We’ve had to shift our focus off of children’s wear based on the projected costs that this law might impose. It was a hard decision, but I want to be able to keep designing. Maybe when our company gets larger we can afford the required testing and try the children’s market again.