Clothing Retailers Settle With Safety Panel

Eight companies, including Neiman Marcus and Kohl's department stores, have agreed to pay a total of $320,000 in civil penalties for selling clothing with drawstrings that may entangle children.

By paying the penalties, the companies will settle allegations by the Consumer Product Safety Commission that they broke the law by failing to notify the agency immediately that they sold defective products that could injure people. Children have been seriously hurt and even killed when drawstrings in the hood and neck have caught on slides or in bus doors.

The other companies fined include Life Is Good, True Religion Apparel, Cayre Group, DollarDays International, Seena International and Gildan Activewear. All firms recalled the unsafe clothing and deny that they knowingly violated the law.

The fines follow a recent series of drawstring-related recalls. Since April 1, 2007, there have been 18 recalls of more than 190,000 units of children's clothing that had strings around the neck or waist.

The recalls were not associated with any reports of injuries. However, accidents involving drawstrings have occurred in the past. From January 1985 to January 1999, the CPSC received reports of 22 deaths and 48 incidents in which children's hood and waist drawstrings became entangled on playground equipment, cribs and other items. In a New York incident, a 14-year-old died when a drawstring caught on a bus handrail and she was dragged under the bus and run over.

In 1996, the CPSC issued drawstring guidelines for manufacturers and retailers. It recommended no drawstrings in the hood and neck of children's outerwear or sweaters and that drawstrings at the waist be a certain length, have no toggles or knots at the ends, and be sewn in the back so the string can't move. In 2006, the CPSC stepped up its enforcement of the guidelines, telling apparel makers and sellers that clothing that violated those guidelines would be considered defective and subject to a recall.