New on the CPSIA

New Safety Law No Fun for VT's Artisan Toymakers
Local Matters
By Ken Picard [12.17.08]


What's this?
Nothing speeds the wheels of Congress like children in peril and, by any measure, 2007 was the year of living dangerously for children’s products. Dubbed “The Year of the Recall” by Consumer Reports, 2007 saw a record number of children’s products pulled from store shelves — an average of four per week. In all, more than 46 million kids’ items were deemed too perilous for public use. They included lead-contaminated toy trains, collapsing cribs, magnetic choking hazards and toxin-tainted craft sets. Seventeen percent of the recalls were prompted by injuries or deaths, according to a report from the nonprofit consumer group Kids in Danger.
Congress reacted swiftly. In August it passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, enacting some of the world’s toughest standards on children’s products. CPSIA was hailed as a major triumph by consumer groups and child-safety advocates. Among other things, the law increased the staffing and funding of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, expanded oversight of imported goods, created a searchable public database for product injuries, and imposed stiff penalties on companies that break the law.
By and large, the negative publicity surrounding the recalls benefited Vermont’s artisan toy and clothing makers. Since nearly all the tainted toys were mass-produced in China or other Asian countries, playthings made locally from all-natural materials looked better, and safer, than the competition.
But the CPSIA, which passed with scant industry input or congressional debate, may end up taking those homegrown companies down, too. It mandates extensive third-party testing and labeling of all children’s toys, furnishings and garments for choking hazards and toxic chemicals. Chief among them are lead and phthalates, a class of vinyl softeners hazardous to humans. And, since the CPSIA covers such a wide array of products and parts, from bath seats to all-terrain vehicles, assessing the cost of testing is difficult. Industry estimates range from $140 to $4000 per item.
In many cases, manufacturers must test for banned substances, even if their products would have no rationale for containing those chemicals, such as a plastic softener in an all-wood toy.
Some Vermont toy makers claim that the new regs, which start phasing in on February 10, are impractical and too costly. They say if the new law isn’t modified for smaller producers, it could spell the end of Vermont’s artisan-toy industry. And, unlike the Toy Industry Association, which represents primarily large manufacturers, there is no trade group speaking on behalf of small, independent toy makers.
Ron Voake, owner of Vermont Wooden Toys of Norwich, has been hand-making children’s toys for 35 years, almost exclusively from wood sourced in New England and Canada. “It’s my full-time thing,” Voake says. “It’s not really a moneymaker, but it’s fun to do.”
Voake just learned about the CPSIA last week and says he has “no idea” what the new law could cost him. But, if the published reports he’s read are true, he’ll have to stop selling his toys to the public. “I don’t know what to make of it, but there’s not a lot I can do about it,” he says.
Craftsbury Kids of Montpelier is a local online seller of toys, jewelry, clothing and other children’s items. The company sources its products from about 100 different independent artisans and crafters worldwide. The cost of testing each item in a government-certified lab could be a deal-breaker.
“We wouldn’t be able to sell anything that we sell now, that’s for sure,” says company spokesperson Michael Secore.
And the new law doesn’t just apply to toys. Kathleen Fasanella is owner of Fashion-Incubator of Las Cruses, N.M., an Internet-based trade magazine that serves primarily small- and medium-sized makers of sewn items, such as clothing, apparel and stuffed animals. Fasanella is unequivocal about the law’s impact on her industry: “It’s going to put us all out of business.”
According to Fasanella, anyone who sells items for kids will be affected, including the grandmother who knits baby booties and sweaters, or the local thrift shop that sells secondhand children’s toys and strollers.
“Legally, after February 10, you can’t even give that stuff away” she asserts. “If you don’t have the certificate, it has to be destroyed.”
David Arkush is director of the Congress Watch division of Public Citizen, one of the half-dozen or so activist groups that pushed for passage of the CPSIA. Although Arkush says he’s only now starting to hear from small, independent manufacturers, he believes the claims about excessive testing costs are the result of poor information from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, if not a deliberate misinformation campaign.
“Some of their perceptions of what the costs are going to be are really overblown,” Arkush asserts. The CPSC “is not a bunch of jackbooted thugs who are going to come lock people up if they’re not complying with the law.”
Arkush admits some of the mandates may sound absurd at first blush, such as testing wooden toys for phthalates, or testing cotton T-shirts for lead.
“But we’re erring on the side of safety,” he adds, “because this is about lead and other toxic chemicals that are very dangerous to children.”
Some local toymakers aren’t waiting around for the law to be amended. Mike Rainville is owner of Maple Landmark Woodcraft of Middlebury. His company, which has been in business for nearly 30 years and employs 40 people, has already begun the first phase of testing its entire line of children’s goods — 880 in all. But since there’s no government-approved lab in Vermont, all his products must be sent out of state. He says some of his slower-selling lines that don’t justify the cost of testing will likely be phased out.
“We essentially don’t have any choice. We’re large enough and visible enough, and our customers expect it,” Rainville says. “The program is far from flawless and it’s far from inexpensive.”
Rainville hasn’t yet received a final bill for the first round of tests. But he says he thinks he can keep the cost under 5 percent of his total revenues — still a major hit, especially in a poor economy when domestic manufacturers face serious import pressures.
“The ultimate sad irony,” Rainville adds, would be “if the small companies that have benefited from all the problems of the last 15 months end up being the ones driven out of business by the solution. And there’s a real chance of that happening.”

Cyber Monday Sale!!

Yes, it's Cyber Monday and stores everywhere are offering incentives for purchasing online! To follow suit, starting today until Friday, December 5th, we're offering $5 off every purchase of $25 or more! And shipping is free for all orders over $99!

Black Friday was great and all, and I know I did enough walking around stores to last me for awhile, but being able to just relax after the holidays and shop and compare online makes things so much easier!

Happy Shopping!

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Amber

Halloween Sale!

Halloween is literally right around the corner and we have the best Halloween basics for baby! Our black short sleeve onesies are now on sale for only $7.99 just for Halloween! Make sure to grab yours quickly!

We're featured!

I don't know why I'm just now getting around to posting this, but Dreamscapes Baby Boutique was featured in the online iEmporium magazine!

Get your own - Open publication

Now, on to other news. If you have noticed fewer posts it's because I've been dealing with work/occupational hazards i.e. carpal tunnel! I'm resting as much as possible and typing as little as I can. But for now, I will say to check out all the great Halloween items at the boutique and get yourself ready for some upcoming sales! Now is the time to subscribe to our newsletter and be the first to know what's happening at the boutique.

Until I can type again,

The Designer Vs. The Knockoff

Something recently brought this topic to my attention, and I realized just how passionate I was about it! Let me preface this by saying I like high fashion and the art that goes behind it. I am one of those people that sees designs as living art and I appreciate the talent and creativity involved. The best part is seeing a designer jump out of his comfort zone to create something unique and different. That's true art in the fashion world. I know there's a Devil Wears Prada quote that would fit this theme nicely. :)

If you love Manolos, but don't know much about the history, I would really spend the time Googling it (I'll spare you the history here). Manolo Blahnik was an artist before he created shoes, but it was his shoe art that started him down a path of being known as a true shoe designer and artist. I have complete respect for that. If you truly understand the art behind the shoe, you can respect that the designer created it as a piece of art you can wear. Our guys may not really understand the premise of this concept, but those of us women that love shoes can attest to it!

But this isn't about Manolo.

This is about the complete respect I share for those that saw a need, created a design no one else had created, and became successsful for it. One of my favorite brands is Swankie Blankie. If you haven't yet heard of them, they are a baby blanket and more company that started because a mom saw a need, created something that at the time was uniquely different, and has become successful for it. For all I know, before Susie Grant created Swankie Blankie, no other blankets out there were made using the minky chenille that we all see everywhere now from boutiques to Wal Mart. Hers is just another brand on a long list of brands that I fell in love with while at Neimans. Maybe one day I will just make a list. :)

But again, this isn't about Swankie Blankie either. Dreamscapes Baby is not affiliated in any way with the company and we do not sell their products, but perhaps someday in the future I may think about it. At the current time, they could be considered a direct competitor for my own line of custom minky blankets.

No, this is about the original and the knockoff. As a designer, I know firsthand how important it is to create something new and different. Every piece I create has to be something no one else has. Even clients that send me pictures of items they like are quickly told that we can use the picture for inspiration, but Two Crowns Bedding will not duplicate the item. It's important to me to not ripoff the designer who had the vision to create it in the first place.

Even though our custom baby blankets may look similar to what you see on the market today, the main difference is that we are the ONLY fully custom blanket creator. We aren't going to tell you what goes together, we let you decide. Want black and white zebra with orange satin ruffles? We'll make it! Want your school colors in blue and burgundy? Great! We have it! That's where we have set ourselves apart. While we don't currently offer premade blankets, we are working on creating some. As of right now, your blanket is custom made to order exactly to how you want it. You choose where your monogramming will be, what font you want it in, and what thread color. Who are we to tell you what is and is not a correct color combination? That's why we do what we do!

Again though, this is not how this post began. What started this heated topic is the fact that a business friend of mine found out she was being knocked off by two different stay at home moms starting their own business. One was knocking her designs off without the same quality, and the other was supposed to be an authorized retailer, but was selling the designs as her own. Without her images being watermarked, my friend said these two ladies used the pictures of her items from her page and was using them as their own without giving any credit to the original. That's what blows my mind. On top of that, I was recently shopping at a nearby store and I put my son's BabyLegs on since it was cold, and a lady stopped me and asked if they were BabyLegs. Why yes they are, I said! I absolutely love BabyLegs! Her response to me was this: "Well, I prefer to support the work at home mom who makes them herself." What?? And her reply was said with utmost snobbery at that. Believe me, I'm all about supporting other WAHMs and their businesses, especially when they are doing something new and interesting, but supporting people who have no creativity of their own and instead steal other people's designs is not what I'm about.

Our world is full of knockoffs. People who buy knockoff designer purses to have the "look" and the "name" without the cost are only hurting the people who originally took their time to design something beautiful. That's not admirable. And no, I'm not one that can afford the latest designer bags and clothing, but trust me, I would rather wear Target label clothing for cheap than buy a knockoff designer label. But then again, you also realize that even the cheap authentic was created because something on the runway made it a fashion statement and it trickled down into the department stores and hence, another Devil Wears Prada reference could be stated here.

So maybe you can't always have the original and authentic. Maybe our society will always allow a version of a knockoff. But don't ever forget the originals behind everything we wear and buy. They are the true artists.

And being a true artist is what I aspire to be.

Dreaming Up Originality,

The Latest in Kids Fashion??

I was just watching NBC Today's show and they had a segment on children's fashion today. They featured a little girl wearing a rainbow striped sweater, plaid pleated skirt, brown and pink polka dot leggings and black military style boots. And for some reason the host stated that if parents came dressed like this we would look like we just got out of bed, but for kids it works. Um...I hate to tell you this but NO it doesn't! Who in their right mind would dress their kids like this? It looks like they dressed themselves in the morning and walked out that way. Or that dad dressed them. Just teasing dads!

It gets me to thinking: how often do we look up to designers telling us what is hot for the season? If you haven't noticed, most items fit for the runway are not fit for regular every day people like you and me. They are designed for a particular body style and will only compliment that style and no other.

I leave it up to the every day moms and dads out there to decide what fashion truly is. If no one buys it, then who cares who designed it?

Have you ever walked by a display and all the manequins in the window were layered in what seems to be every item of clothing in the store? And yet, no one ever actually wears the clothing that way? It may be a little known secret that visual merchandisers responsible for the displays in stores layer things to show options and to fit as many items as possible onto one manequin so you can see a larger variety of clothing. However, since real people don't dress that way, it doesn't always work effectively.

There's a story my parents tell that when I was young (about 6 perhaps) I asked if I could do the displays in their store window (my parents owned a retail store in Oklahoma City, OK). I could use whatever I wanted. So, I went about looking for items to dress the display manequins and what I chose were every day items that you would wear by themself, not layered. You can imagine how shocked my parents were when they sold out of those items that same week! Another time, I was an assistant manager at a clothing store in Plano, TX and at one point we didn't have a visual merchandiser to do the displays so I took it upon myself to change them. I used actual matching pieces and accessories, clothing that you could easily see putting together as an outfit and walking out of the store looking great. Perhaps I'm crazy like that, but those particular items were the first to sell in the store. So much so that I had to constantly change our displays because we would sell the outfits right off of the manequins!

And then the corporate office hired a VM and it went back to layers and layers and less and less sales. Sadly, that company soon went out of business. Turns out, not everyone appreciates paying cheaper prices for something that falls apart after one wash. Myself included. But hey, it was a job and a stepping stone for my Neiman Marcus experience.

I guess fashion has always been in my blood, and I know what I like when I see it. That's my hope for the boutique as well, that I can offer the best in children's fashion without sacrificing quality. I won't sell anything that I don't think fits with my goals for the boutique.

And you won't find pictures on the boutique of kids wearing multiple layers. ;)

Dreaming up new ideas daily,