On 21 Dec 2015, the Japanese Standards Association (JSA) officially promulgated JIS L 4129 “Safety of Children’s Clothing – Cords and Drawstrings on Children’s Clothing – Specification” as a voluntary safety standard. The safety standard was published as a draft FD JIS L 4129 on 23 June 2014, for the industry to comment and for the preparation of compliance for the new safety requirements.

Being the first safety standard for children’s clothing in Japan, JIS L 4129 is written in the similar direction as the EU drawstrings standard EN 14682. It aims to minimize the risk of accidental entrapment by cords or drawstrings on children’s clothing by taking into account a child’s age; behavior and activities of children for their age and stage of development, for example playing in playgrounds, climbing trees and travelling by bus or train; children’s abilities and the level of supervision by a caregiver; and past relevant accidental statistics. The safety standard stipulates the safety requirements for cords and drawstrings on different body parts of children’s clothing for 2 different age groups; young children of 0-7 years of age; and older children of 7-13 years of age.

This new safety standard does not apply to the following products:

1. child use and care articles, for example bibs, nappies, soother holders and underwear
2. shoes, boots and similar footwear
3. gloves, hats, bonnets, scarves and socks
4. neckties designed to be worn with a shirt or blouse
5. belts, suspenders and armbands
6. celebratory clothing such as that worn at civil or religious ceremonies, national or regional festivals
7. specialty sportswear and activity wear worn for limited periods and under supervision except ｗｈｅｒｅ those garments are commonly worn as day wear or night wear
8. theatrical costumes used for theatrical performances
9. aprons intended to be worn over day wear, for limited periods and under supervision, to protect clothing from soiling during activities such as painting, cooking, or during meal times
10. traditional clothing (e.g., newborn onesies, jinbei, or yukata)

The Solution:

Intertek Softlines focuses on textile and footwear service, which is one of the earliest businesses that Intertek developed in China. Starting from 1989, Intertek Softlines has set up laboratories and offices in textile and footwear industry clusters, and now can support its customers through its network of more than 20 laboratories and offices and over 2000 experts and professionals around China.

We can not only offer testing and certification services for finished products including textile and garment, shoes and leather goods, but also help companies to ｅｘｅｃute quality control over the whole industry chain from raw material to finished products.

Our Main Services:

• Textile, Apparel and Accessories testing
• Footwear and Material testing
• Handbag & Leather Goods testing
• Individual Protective Equipment (PPE) testing and certification
• Restricted substances testing

About Intertek

Intertek is a leading Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide. Our network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices and more than 100 countries, delivers innovative and bespoke Assurance, Testing, Inspection and Certification solutions for our customers’ operations and supply chains. Intertek Total Quality Assurance expertise, delivered consistently with precision, pace and passion, enabling our customers to power ahead safely.

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