Not Limited To Imported Products -- A Case Study Of American Textile Products Recall In 2011

Spin clothing Industry is the dominant traditional industry in China, which occupies more than 1/3 of the international textile trade. However, in recent years, the green trade barriers of textile and apparel products in developed countries such as Europe and the United States have been constantly strengthened, which has a great impact on China's textile and garment industry. According to the statistics of the General Administration of customs, the export volume of China's textile and apparel products reached US $247 billion 890 million in 2011, up by 20% over the same period last year. However, under the combined influence of the financial crisis and trade barriers, the import and export volume fluctuated significantly in the past five years, and the overall growth rate was not large, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1 statistical information on import and export of China's textile and clothing products

All along, Sino US trade is an important part of China's international trade relations. In 2011, China's total exports to the United States amounted to 324 billion 490 million US dollars, accounting for 17.1% of China's total exports, and the largest export trade target for our country. The import volume of China's textile and clothing products from us customs statistics was 40 billion 658 million US dollars [2], accounting for 12.5% of China's total exports to the United States, accounting for 16.4% of China's textile and clothing exports. It can be seen that the United States textile and garment market has important strategic significance for China's related industries, and the recall of the US market will have a significant negative effect on the export of related industries in China.

　 1 American clothing recall information release system

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is an independent body of the federal government of the United States. Its duty is to exercise the consumer goods safety act CPSA (Consumer Products Safety Act) and other related laws, and protect the interests of consumers by reducing the potential danger of consumer goods in order to protect the safety of the person and family. The US consumer product recall event is released by CPSC in real time. The information content is more detailed than the EU RAPEX system (Community Rapid Information System), including product name, quantity, picture, manufacturer, place of origin, sales information, hazard source, injury statistics, recall date, recall quantity, recall measure, contact mode and so on, so that consumers, sellers and producers can get sufficient information.

　 2 recall of clothing origin analysis

In 2011, China's exports of clothing were recalled in the United States for 15 times (see Table 2). The total number of recalled garments was about 85 thousand, accounting for 52% of the total number of clothing recall cases in the United States, a slight decrease from 59% in 2010, but still the most important source of recall products, indicating that the quality problem of our products is grim. In these recall cases, children's clothing products are obviously higher than those of other countries of origin, and the recall of adult clothing is quite similar to that of other countries of origin. This shows that the main problems of China's export of textile and clothing products are concentrated on the quality and safety of children's clothing. It is noteworthy that the origin of recalled products includes the United States, France and other developed countries, and some of the products in the recall cases are in many countries.

Table 2 Statistics on recall cases of textile and apparel products in the United States {page_break}

　 3 reasons for recall

The main reason for the recall of textile and clothing products is the risk of personal injury due to its design or quality. From the statistical results of the recall information released to CPSC (Table 3), we can see that the main hazards of textile and clothing products in the US market are rope belts, buttons or small accessories, combustion performance and heavy metal lead.

Table 3 hazard analysis of textile and apparel product recall cases in USA

In 2011, there were 9 cases of recall of rope problems, all of which were children's clothing and recalled products totaling about 34 thousand pieces, 91% less than that in 2010. Rope safety is mainly aimed at children and infant clothing requirements, pulling or rope may be tripping and strangling and other dangers (as shown in Figure 1), according to the CPSC guidelines issued in 1996, the neck should not be used in the neck of 2T to 12. The waist belt of the size 2T to 16 can not extend more than 3 inches and should not be buckled on the head. This regulation is more stringent than the standard GB/T 22702-2008 "Safety Specification for children's tops".

In 2011, there were 6 cases of recall due to buttons and other small accessories, all of which were children's clothing, and the recall products were about 63 thousand, representing a decrease of about 37% compared with 2010. Buttons may bring risks such as swallowing and suffocation. According to the regulations of the federal regulations 16 C.F.R. Part 1501 and 1500.50-53 on infant toys and products, small accessories such as buttons, balls and beads can not be allowed in infants' clothing. 1.25 inch (3.18cm) or above small accessories should be tested for biting resistance, so as to prevent children from eating or inhaling the trachea. This standard GB/T 22704-2008, the implementation specification for children's clothing design and production to improve mechanical safety, stipulates that children's clothing should have certain adhesion strength when they have such accessories, but buttons with food color or shape can not be used, and the combination buttons should not be applied to infants' clothing. This is also the case that the children's clothing design and production standards for children's clothing should have a certain adhesive strength. However, it is not necessary for children to wear the buttons. The combination of buttons can not be used in children's clothing. This is the standard for children's clothing design and production implementation specification of C.F.R.. Small accessories such as buttons are also safe for infants and young children.

In 2011, there were 9 cases of recall due to combustion problems, and about 39 thousand recalled products, an increase of about 105% over 2010. Combustion performance is an important indicator of the safety performance of clothing products in the United States. In the federal regulations 16 CFR Part 1609/10/15/16, the combustion performance of all kinds of clothing products has been stipulated, so as to reduce the degree of injury to the human body when approaching the fire source.

In 2011, there were 1 recall cases due to excessive lead content on children's wear accessories, and 90 thousand products were recalled, representing a decrease of about 10% compared with 2010. Although there are many kinds of harmful substances in clothing, the harmful substances that are prohibited by the CPSA act are only two kinds of substances such as nitrite and two phthalate esters. There is no recall case. The federal regulations 16 CFR 1303 stipulate the content of lead in paints. The current recall cases are focused on the lead exceeding standard of pigment printing and decorations on children's clothing (Figure 3), and our FZ/T81014-2008 "infant clothing" has clear requirements for lead.

In 2011, there were 1 cases of battery recall. It was a famous outdoor sports brand Columbia electric outdoor wind proof clothing, recalled 200 products. In 2010, 2 cases recalled 101 thousand products, of which 98 thousand were an electric scarf. The battery modules on these functional products had the risk of overheating.

On the whole, 26 recalled products and 227 thousand recalled products in 2011, resulting in the same risk of recall as in 2010. The number of recalls decreased by 47 compared with that in 2010, and the number of recalled products decreased by 69% compared with that in 2010. The most obvious problem is the rope problem, which is mainly derived from the design and should be avoided if designers pay enough attention to it. In addition, problems such as combustion performance and heavy metal content can be controlled by strengthening raw material testing.

　　 4 Conclusion

In international trade, product recall has always been regarded as a green trade barrier. However, through many years of operation, product recall has indeed protected consumers' interests, improved the quality and safety awareness of producers, and recall is not limited to imported products. Local products and even international brands often appear in the recall. For example, in 2011, a Chanel silk dress recalled 154 products for its combustion performance.

In summary, the recall data of CPSC is an important feedback for the quality of textiles in China. It shows that there are serious problems in the quality and safety of our children's clothing products. China's export enterprises should give full attention to and improve them. Our quality management departments should learn from the experience of foreign product quality management, improve our laws and standards system, and improve the quality of our products.