Children's clothing fails tests on quality

An alarming amount of children's clothing, including some produced by a Shanghai company, failed tests of color fastness, formaldehyde content and pH index, CCTV reported yesterday.

Among the 63 groups of samples produced or sold by 47 companies nationwide, 21 percent failed the inspections. The samples were selected randomly from shops, supermarkets and online stores by the Beijing Consumer Association and were sent to laboratories of the China General Chamber of Commerce for tests.

The Shanghai Okaidi Co Ltd, a branch of France-based Idgroup, is on the black list for poor color fastness. Another nine firms in cities such as Beijing, Nantong, Fuzhou and Guangzhou have the same problem.

When children sweat, the dye in clothing with poor color fastness will bleed out of the fabric and into the skin, which can be harmful.

Ten groups were found to have engaged in false labeling. According to the tag of clothing produced by the Zhuoyan Clothing Factory in Foshan, Guangdong Province, coats and sweaters were made of 100 percent cotton, but the tests found that more than 66 percent of their textile was polyester fiber.

Health threats noted

Polyester fiber has poorer performance in sweat absorption and air permeability, and producers use it to save cost, experts said.

Some products contained excessive amount of formaldehyde. The national standard of children's clothing is at most 75 milligrams per kilogram, and some products were found to have 179 milligrams a kilogram. Excessive formaldehyde can lead to headaches, dermatitis, eczema and even malignant tumors and leukemia, doctors warned.

Decomposable aromatic amine dyes, a banned material in clothing, was found in one product. It can cause cancer.

"Some factories have poor techniques of production and shabby facilities, while some just want to make money without considering the harm to children," said Jiang Yanxiang, a textile engineer.

He said parents should also carefully observe accessories on children's clothing, such as metal items and string, which are not allowed and can cause safety problems.