Kids on China will now have access to safer apparels. The country has issued the first mandatory national textile standards for children’s clothing. The standards created after nationwide textile product inspections last year revealed that more than 10 per cent of products designed for children, including apparel, failed in safety regulations.

The standards are expected to guide manufacturers to improve the safety and quality of children’s clothing to ensure infants’ and children’s health and safety. Textiles are divided into two types under the new standards: materials for infants 36 months or younger and children from the ages of 3 to 14.

Six plasticisers and two heavy metals (cadmium and lead) have been banned in children’s apparel. Cords, stipulations and combustibility are also altered under the standard’s requirements for mechanical safety. Cords are banned from the neck area of clothing for kids under seven and sharp stipulations are also eliminated from all children’s apparel.

The new standard also breaks children’s apparel into three safety regulation groups: Category A includes all infant textile products and is very rigid in terms of appropriate materials; Category B involves any products created for direct skin contact and they must meet or go above the standard’s guidelines at this level; and Category C is the least rigid and involves children’s clothing not designed for direct skin contact.