Another great question for the CPSIA meeting in the Lab on Thursday, post it in the comments section of the The Storque article at
http://www.etsy.com/storque/events/cpsia-join-cpsc-officials-for-a-chat-with-sellers-7385/ .
Yes, most threads and fabrics* are CPSIA lead testing exempt. But because the monkey is considered a toy you need the phthalate testing information. If you can get that from the sock manufacturer, the thread maker, & the fabric supplier of the embellishment then you do not need to test again. Unforntunately there is no phthalate testing exempt list though there have been requests from textile's & appearal manufacturer's associations for the CPSC to start one.
As for the regulation numbers that you see on mass produced plush there are many types such as the ASTM (a private voluntary certification program that was used prior to the CPSIA) or some states require a plush manufactures lisence to be able to sell your products with in that state and have a seperate set a regulations from the federal government. So for those you may have to do a general internet search and see what the regulation # leads you to.
For the labels in general you may need the FTC care and content labels along with the CPSIA tracking label. For plush items I believe the FTC labeling is less stringent than the one they have for clothing, best to search
http://www.ftc.gov to see what you get in the way of regulations there. As for the CPSIA tracking labels for a crafter the CPSIA label must include at minimum :
* Your company or shop name (or RN# if the company name appears on a permanant label elsewhere on the product)
* The city, state/territory, & country where the item was completed
* The date of manufacture or completion of the product
* If you make repeats of the designs then you may also need a batch number, but only if the pieces are mostly identical looking and made of the same exact raw materials as each other and where made or completed on the same day.
For CPSIA Tracking labels
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/sect103policy.pdf http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/sect103.html#103q8 Just as a good idea you may want to print out the CPSIA lead testing exemption list to show to the retailer just in case they have problems realising that the fabric does not need test results for lead
http://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/frnotices/fr09/leaddeterminationsfinalrule-draft.pdf* = exempt as long as there is no metalic looking threads and no chemical treatments like water resistant coatings.
