CE Testing and the 'The Sock Problem': PART TWO

So, continuing the saga - if you haven't read part one click here.

What do I do now?  Its a very good question and it is not good news really either.

SOLUTION 1
I find a sock I like and try and buy as many pairs as I can.  I then have this sock design tested for compliance with the EN71.  I think this is around £80 (please correct me if I am wrong) each for flammability and heavy metals.
PROBLEM:
If I bought 40 pairs of socks the test would put £2.00 onto the cost of each sock.
When have you ever seen 40 pairs of the same sock in a retail shop anyway?  This means I will have issues with the retailer over why I want these socks and what I am doing with them.
Part of the charm of the bunnies is all the different designs.  The test would have to be done for EACH design of sock costing said amount each time.
SOLUTION:
I could contact the retailer (I use Top Shop and Next socks alot) and ask them about their socks and get them to provide me with documentation.
PROBLEM:
Socks do not need to conform to CE testing standards for toys therefore they will not have been tested and there is no documentation.  I know this because I found a sock factory in China to produce the socks and have them made into bunnies for me but they said they could not guarantee that their socks would pass the EN71 test. This is the same with most sock factories because they have nothing to comply too apart from their own self-imposed standards.
SOLUTION:
Find a factory that does know about their socks and know that they pass the test.

SOLUTION 2:
I have the bunnies mass-produced.  This would change the way I sell them and I would be attending trade fairs to take wholesale orders from retailers.  I have looked into this last year and found a factory who would make them and the CE testing would be done by them.  I would be selling them at a wholesale price and the RRP would have to be a much lower price point than they are already because they lose their handmade appeal.  I needed to get the cost down another £1.00 but the factory could not make their price any lower and it is now on the back-burner.  I also needed to buy 3,000 bunnies as a minimum.  Luckily I have a contact who has a good relationship with the factory and they agreed to produce 3 different designs, 1,000 of each.  It is still a whole loada bunnies.
WHY NOT:
They won't be handmade and there are only three designs.  I don't have the money to pay for 3,000 bunnies.  To make it achievable I would have to have sold a chunk of the bunnies, from working samples, whilst the 3,000 are in production so I know I have money to pay for them.  3,000 bunnies in my garage, unsold, is very, very scary indeed.  I would need to pay around £2500 to attend a trade fair such as Top Drawer.
This ties in with me expanding Widget and Friends too.  I have reached a time when I need to expand 'off the kitchen table' but no retailer will buy my bunnies wholesale because they do not conform with the CE mark and they, themselves, could face a fine for selling them.  Dead end.
The above changes Widget and Friends totally and I am unsure of the appeal of a mass-produced sock bunny - hence the back-burner status.

SOLUTION 3:
I have my own socks manufactured that conform to the EN71 tests.
As it stands I am in talks with a UK sock manufacturer (yay uk!) who is looking into the situation for me. Their minimum is 600 pairs in my design.  That's pretty exciting but still a whole lot of socks/money.
PROBLEM:
They think flammability is a problem as fabrics are usually pretreated and socks aren't.  I still don't have the money for 600 pairs. That's 1200 socks and I use one sock per bunny.  Which design do I choose? I would need THE most appealing design - but which is it?
Even if the socks conform I will still have to have a made up (1200 sewn by me GULP) bunny CE tested and the stitching etc many not stand up to their rhino-pulling techniques.  By nature socks are stretchy and the sewing threads don't stretch as far as the sock fibres - therefore 'riiiiiiip'.

SOLUTION 4:
I start a company supplying EN71 conforming socks to everyone who makes toys from them.
PROBLEM:
Its a great idea but ..... money/knowledge/blahblah and the rest of it.  There are not really enough people out there to buy them to really make much money.

AS IT STANDS:
I should not be selling the sock bunnies at all nor anyone else be selling toys made from socks either for that matter - but because I'm selling small numbers (relative to the volume toy market) it is not a 'remove those from the market now' situation.  The Trading Standards officer said that I must state 'Not for anyone under the age of 14' as a temporary statement whilst I sort out what to do for the long term.  I am now a 'reference number' with Trading Standards which means it is documented that I am selling 'non-conformist bunnies'.  I have had to be removed from one website that was selling the bunnies (amicably of course!) - the rest will follow eventually.  Boooo.

Some interesting reading The Laboratory at The Birmingham Assay Office.

For now ........

CE Testing and 'The Sock Problem' - PART ONE

Its a problem indeed and one that A LOT of you are asking about.  Could this be curtains for the bunnies?  The best way to answer all these things is to do a blog post - otherwise i'm typing the same thing 84 times whenever anyone asks!
I'm going to do a two-parter - otherwise it's too long.

So.  I will mush it all down here - in layman's terms- so don't expect any technical terms - but, who needs those anyway - that's why everyone is confused in the first place!
The following is how I understand it - Please, if I have got it wrong, or you have any other insights, please let me know, I'm still finding out about it all and need all the information I can get.

PART ONE:  SORTING OUT THE INFORMATION

The Sock Bunnies are toys.  I cannot call them 'Collectables'. Well, I can, but it won't hold much truck.  You cannot omit the title 'toy' or get away with refuting the title 'toy' if the item is displayed with, tagged or associated with toys. If you make an item that is appealing to children the it is a 'toy' and needs to be tested. Period.  Listing it under 'Accessories' on Folksy won't do either!

Stating they are 'Not suitable for children under 36 months' doesn't cover it either.  That statement is for toys that have passed the test but may have small parts which come with it.  EG. You make a teddy bear who wears a waistcoat with buttons.  The teddy passes the CE test but to cover themselves the company might choose to state - 'Please remove the waistcoat before giving to children under 36 months.'  Or they can just say 'Not suitable for under 36 months due to small parts).  The crux is that the toy still passed the test.

To sell toys, handmade or otherwise, in the UK they, legally, need to comply to DTI Production Standards UK Toys (safety) Regulations 1995 and  and pass the CE test.  This is changing in 2011 but remains pretty much the same really,

The test is pretty much as follows: Pulling all seams and bits to see if they come off. (Mechanical/physical properties).  Burning it to see if it ..er .. burns (flammawotsit test) and lastly (the problem for socks) testing it for heavy metals in the dyes.

 Hold still Widget!

 Before I carry on I need to interject; You can self-certify your toys.  To do this you need to keep a record of where all the parts of that toy have come from.  Take a photo of the label that came with the toy filling, for example.
Toy filling already complies, so you are off to a good start.
Toy fabric manufacturers tend to test their fabrics so you will be able to get documentation. Keep a record of where you sourced your fabrics from, contact the company to ask them for any documentation showing that it is safe.
A fire test certificate from a fabric manufacturer will not do as flammawotsit can also depend on the shape of the toy.  You will need to have it tested (yup you have to sacrifice a toy up for burning). Ouch!

Widget, that is NOT what I had in mind.  Put that match away!

Now, this is important:  You cannot self-certify a toy made from a sock that you have bought from a retailer - and, come on, Top Shop do have some great designs!
BECAUSE: Socks do not have to conform to any safety standards, even children's socks, because they are just that, socks. Socks are for feet and not for making into things to play with.
The sock bunnies: I can safely say that the stuffing is safe because it says so on the bag.  I cannot, however, safely say that the socks are safe.  Most high-street bought socks are manufactured abroad and the factory/company do not need to comply with toy safety regulations. The socks are probably safe but that is not enough, you need a piece of paper saying so.  Damnations.

Now is a good time to call your local Trading Standards office.  They are astoundingly helpful.  Just google your local council and there will be a link there.  Find the phone number and give them a call.
The one problem I now have is that I have 'A reference number'.  I am documented as selling un-safe rabbit.
THE PROBLEM:  The nice TS officer was relieved to hear that I wasn't shifting thousands of unsafe bunny toys.  He said that it was something I will have to sort out for the long term but for now I need to say 'Not suitable for anyone under the age of 14 years'.  This is a short-term safeguard that will not hold a lot of water in court but is better than nothing whilst I 'sort out what to do'.  The long and short of it is, if I want to sell these bunnies they are going to have to pass the CE test.
 

WHAT CAN I DO NOW?  Read Part two of my CE nightmare