An Essentia staff member was recently very surprised to see the above label in a new piece of children’s clothing. We don’t think of these cute pieces of clothing as potential harbingers of doom, but unfortunately they can be.

The reason the garment is not flame resistant? Children’s clothing manufacturers are no longer required to treat their clothes with flame retardant chemicals.

What does this mean? While reusing is always a good idea in most other areas, if you can afford it, you’ll want to at the very least purchase new children’s clothing as opposed to used. If you have the money, you’ll want to look at children’s clothing made from organic fabrics, which thankfully is cropping up in many children’s clothing boutiques and departments these days.

What else to avoid in kids clothing

Here are a couple of other tips to help you shop healthy for your kids, even if you can’t afford to purchase organic clothing for your tots. These tips are courtesy of Adria Vasil in her book Ecoholic, which I highly recommend purchasing if you want to green your life sensibly and affordably. She also has two follow-up books that I haven’t read yet (sorry, Adria) but I’m sure are equally wonderful.

If there’s a strong plastic smell, don’t buy it.
A strong plastic smell from stickers or decals can indicate off gassing from PVC or other potentially toxic chemicals.

Wash it before your kid wears it.
Kids clothes could be treated with formaldehyde to ensure a wrinkle-free display product.

Where can I buy organic kids clothes?

There are tons of organic children’s clothing manufacturers out there. A quick Google search will return more manufacturers than you can shake a stick at.

Tags: natural kids clothes, organic childrens clothing, organic kids clothes, organic kids clothing

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