Felt and velcro - included in textile exemptions?

[Former_Member]

Okay, with the stay I thought I might try to relist some of my felt food. However I want to be sure I understand correctly. I use polyester felt made of recycled soda bottles. Since they were made of plastic, I'm a little unsure as to whether or not poly felt could be considered phthylate free? Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Also what about velcro? Would that be considered in the zippers, buttons, snaps, etc. category, i.e. not exempt. I don't use it a lot in kids items, but I do use it on my bibs and my small pouches. While I'm not planning on making any new bibs until this mess is cleared up, I have a stack of them I was getting ready to list when the whole CPSIA issue came up.

[Former_Member]

felt... yes.


velcro... i duno. i think the one side is plastic... ???

[Former_Member]

velcro is a sewing notion... i think. fasteners.



i know a lot of you are concerned about safe fasteners... i'd make loop and ball fasteners for your bibs... make a ball our of fabric for one side, and a loop out of ribbon on the other.

that's what i'd do. i don't make bibs, tho.

[Former_Member]

Hmmm...... no metal parts in velcro, right?

Good question; not sure what to do with my "one-piece baby items with snap crotches" (what with "onesie" being trademarked and all) as it is, but bibs with velcro, hadn't thought about those.....

Dammit, if it isn't one thing, it's another. Grr! :-/

Good question, not you I'm ticked at, just the whole, y'know, THING!!!!! :-)

Peace out!

[Former_Member]

eco-spun... felt is lead free... i didn't think about the phthylate.

i will look into it, since they are on my blog.

[Former_Member]

StacyJEAN, isn't velcro polyester and not plastic?

[LaBeq]

littlethingsboutique said:
StacyJEAN, isn't velcro polyester and not plastic?
__________

Polyester is a kind of plastic.

[Former_Member]

I would think felt is a bonded fabric--there are no warp or weft threads in it. In order to do that, there is a chemical process that is involved. Not sure if that falls in the textile category or not. I know PVC's and vinyl are not included.

[Former_Member]

If you don't want to use the word "onesie" you can use the word "bodysuit". That' what all the brands except gerber use for their onesie title/description.

[Former_Member]

"onesie" is a trademark name from Gerber. It should not be used in your listings. Sugarplumbtree is correct--the generic term is "bodysuit".

[Former_Member]

I know a few folks on here highly dislike WikiPedia (and have rather rudely told me about it in previous threads - I just ignore them), but here are some basics from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthalate#Uses

"Phthalates are used in a large variety of products, from enteric coatings of pharmaceutical pills to viscosity control agents, gelling agents, film formers, stabilizers, dispersants, lubricants, binders, emulsifying agents, and suspending agents. End applications include adhesives and glues, agricultural adjuvants, building materials, personal care products, detergents and surfactants, plastic objects, paints, printing inks and coatings, pharmaceuticals, food products and textiles."

[Former_Member]

interesting reads...

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-polyester.htm

it's made from PET... [polyethylene terephthalate], the same thing as soda bottles.



so far the banned phthalates are: DEHP, DBP and BBP



so, i'm assuming that answers the felt question. since the felt is made from soda bottles, made from PET.

[Former_Member]

http://www.phthalates.com/index.asp?page=4

[Lavender2Lace]

Not that I make many children's items, but I might crochet some from time to time.

So I was thinking about fasteners. What a situation! I also thought of the little crocheted balls and a loop. But what if the child started sucking on the ball and pulled it off and chocked on it.

So I guess that's out.

What the heck to the people who wrote the law think can be used to close up children's clothing?

I guess we're stuck with ties. You can't use Velcro on knitted or crocheted items, it would abrade the yarn. Plus it can be scratchy on a child.

It is just so unbelieveably convoluted!

We can only hope that the fastener industry will make non-everything fasteners, and put the info. right on the pkg.

[Lavender2Lace]

chocked=choked

[Former_Member]

on a bib... i would hope that a kid is only wearing it in their high chair, and that mom or dad or whomever is there, as well.

we don't use bibs, but i can't imagine letting my baby play with it.




the market will shift, though. it has to.

soon, all items will be invisible and we will stay in bed all day pretending and using our imaginations.

safe.

and sound.



:)

[StoryBlox]

"Phthalates are used in a large variety of products, from enteric coatings of pharmaceutical pills to viscosity control agents, gelling agents, film formers, stabilizers, dispersants, lubricants, binders, emulsifying agents, and suspending agents. End applications include adhesives and glues..."

well crap, do we have to be worried about glue now too?!?

[Former_Member]

So do we have to test elastics, snaps, buttons, and other closures?

Cause we can't have draw strings in pants because of the strangulation hazard.

So how are we supposed to keep kids pants up? and shirts closed? Cause I gotta say most "safe" ways of fastening, totally ruin the aesthetic of most clothing. I guess I would use carved natural wood buttons...

[MostlyStoneware]

If I were buying anything for a child or grandchild of mine I'd go for Velcro hands down. I'm not sure what the regs will say though.

[Former_Member]

I was searching the internet looking for something that would tell me that velcro didn't have any phthalates in it. I saw several stores that sell baby items that used velcro and listed their products free of all pvc, lead, vinyl, and phthalates.
I hit the velcro site, question-has anyone contacted them and ask if their product is free of these things?

[Former_Member]

i think velcro is in the same family as polyester... which is a CVC, i think... not a PVC.

[Former_Member]

bibs, I've emailed Velcro, but haven't heard back yet.

[Dannielle]

Polyester fabric is flexible because it's tiny threads woven together. The flexibility is because of the weave and fineness, not because the threads are stretchy. Polyester threads are not stretchy...they snap and break when an individual thread is pulled.

Disclaimer: This is nothing but my thought process...thinking aloud here.

[Former_Member]

polyester is a mix of fiber and PET... but, it has nothing to do with phthalates. totally different class of plastics.

polyester is woven with the same chemical compounds used for soda bottles.

least, that's what my research turned up, yesterday.


i found no correlation between polyester and phthalates.

[Former_Member]

staceyJEAN, do you have a link/source for that?