This is a warning sign. We see them often. When this sign enters my line of vision I know to slow down, be careful, and exercise CAUTION.
I am beginning to think children’s clothing needs a bright, yellow, caution sign.
It is no longer enough to look for small items that may separate and pose a choke hazard, pesticides in cotton and the use of flame retardants that may be harmful to my child’s health. Now I also have to worry about tagless stamps found in the clothing.
My children were THRILLED when clothes began arriving sans tag. I was constantly in search of scissors to remove offending tags. With that irritant gone, we see the arrival of chemical burns from the imprint tags which replaced traditional hang-tags. This worries me greatly because those imprints are often on the clothes which lay directly against our young ones tender skin. They are found on onesies, pajamas, t-shirts & underwear.
What is causing these skin reactions? Likely it is from the phthalates used in the process of making the ink stamp. Phthalates are being phased out as they are now classified as hazardous. There may also be other dangerous chemical residue lurking in those imprints, such as formaldehyde. Formaldehyde on my babies skin? I think not.
How do we protect our munchkins? Purchase organic clothing with traditional labels or safe tagless labels. If you are unable to avoid clothing with tagless imprints, then use a piece of fabric tape to cover the label. At this point, I wouldn’t assume any tag free clothing is safe (even those from an organic line) without checking first with the manufacturer to find out what the stamp is comprised of.
No outfit is cute enough to risk a burn on my little ones precious skin. Contact the manufacturers of children’s clothing and make it known that this is unacceptable!
Image used with permission from FreeFoto.
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Megan Torrini says
Can you believe it- just *another* thing we have to worry about. I love the tagless and so do my kids, and so far it hasn’t affected us. I would hope that another alternative could be found- have no idea if soy ink could be used or not. Or, I’d be happy with NOTHING stamped in my shirts (bras/underpants!). Manufactures could just attach the instructions/info along with the price tag and I’d be fine with that!
shelley says
i’m not a huge fan of the tagless scene anyway speaking for myself… it’s to easy to get all backwards in a hurry! now this… why is america wearing such a dunce cap half the time.