The State Administration for Market Regulation of China recently issued a notice on the quality of children’s footwear products.
The samples this time were all taken from Chinese e-commerce platforms, including Tmall, Pinduoduo, JD.com, etc., and a total of 59 batches of products were spot-checked, focusing on the following 21 items:
Peel strength, wear resistance of the outsole, pull-out strength or pull-out force of the strap, outsole hardness, longitudinal rigidity of the steel shank, hardness of the steel shank, the lower limit of the length of the steel shank, the bending performance of the steel shank, Adhesion strength of the band and shoe upper, physical and mechanical safety performance, physical safety performance, hexavalent chromium in leather and fur, decomposable harmful aromatic amine dyes, formaldehyde, total heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium), extractable heavy metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic), dimethyl fumarate, N-nitrosoamine in rubber parts, phthalate, pH value, chlorophenol (pentachlorophenol, 2,3,5, 6-Tetrachlorophenol).
17 batches of products were found to be unqualified in the inspection, and the unqualified rate was 28.8%. Unqualified children’s shoes involve online stores such as Snoopy children’s shoe flagship store, Aokang children’s shoe flagship store, Ruby Beibei flagship store, and a number of manufacturers in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian and other places.
The most prominent problem in this quality inspection was the unqualified “phthalates”, and 13 batches of products failed to pass the test of this item.
Phthalates are commonly known as plasticizers and are classified as category 2B carcinogens by the World Health Organization. If its content exceeds the standard, it will cause great harm to human health, especially children in the developmental stage. Phthalates containing soft plastic toys and children’s products, if contact with children for a long time, the amount of leaching will exceed the safe level, which can harm the liver and kidneys of children, but also can cause premature sexual maturity of children.
Other unqualified items involve the total amount of heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium), the wear resistance of the outsole, etc.
Source: Consumer Report Group