Hi! Try the Federal Trade Commission website. I don't know if small busnesses are "required" to test, but if your garments are sold in certain stores, you will be. The big stores and catalogues (Wal-mart, Target, Sears, JC Penney, Disney, etc.) that I worked with required testing and provided HUGE manuals. They also told us to use specific testing labs that knew the store requirements. The outcomes of the tests were sent to the stores and the manufacturer.
Testing is really expensive. It is one of the reason that 95% of US manufacturinng has gone off-shore to places where a worker makes 30 cents an hour. But that is another discussion. :-( Monica -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Sylvia Rognstad Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 11:37 AM To: Historical Costume Subject: Re: [h-cost] OT: quick fabric washing question Do you have any idea where one finds these instructions? I have a small online clothing business and put "dry clean only" on a lot of my tags. I'd like further information on the legalities. Sylrog On Feb 9, 2008, at 9:05 AM, monica spence wrote: > Actually, with all due respect, that is not necessarily true. I worked > in > the garment industry for 25 years as a designer, patternmaker and > technical > desuigner. Most stores require testing as part of their Quality > Assurance > program.Part of that is Wash testing. The federal govermnent no longer > lets > manufacturers put a "dry clean only " tag on a garment. A > manufacturer must > allow the customer the ability to wash with specific directions (cold > water, bleach, etc.. If a fabric/garment has been PROVEN to be damaged > by > the use of a specific thing (hot water, detergent, bleach, etc) then > the > MFG. can say on their tag "Cold water only" or "Dry clean only" etc. > Mfgs no > longer have the luxury of putting the "Dry clean only" tag on a garment > because it is convenient or safe. I found this out the hard way when > deakling with Nordstroms a few years ago. They INSISTED on putting > "Use dry > bleach when necessary" tag on their girl's swimwear. > > If it says Dry Clean only, follow the directions. Then if something > happens, > you can return it to the store, who will in turn send it to the > Manufacturer. If you have improperly cleaned something, it is not > necessarily the store's problem. > > Monica > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Behalf Of Dawn > Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 1:16 AM > To: Historical Costume > Subject: Re: [h-cost] OT: quick fabric washing question > > > monica spence wrote: >> I'd dry clean it. Rayon sometimes is not colorfast to washing. If the >> tag >> says dry clean, then dryclean. > > Most of the time the tag says "dry clean" because the manufacturer > doesn't know how to clean it, and dry cleaning is "safe". They are > required by law to put care tags on the garments, but for many it is > too > much cost and effort to research the best method for a particular > fabric > or a line of clothing. So it says "dry clean" and they are covered. > > It's probably ok to hand wash it in cool water with a mild soap. If you > are concerned about colorfastness, test swab it with a damp q-tip or > cotton ball. Dry it in a rolled up towel, and press it on a very low > iron setting. > > > Dawn > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
