I'm taking the handmade pledge. Well, my version of it anyway. In 2011, I will only buy items new if they are handmade (preferably by a small business in the USA, just like my own), and everything else secondhand. There will be times this is impossible - if I need to grab something last minute, not all of the materials I work with are handmade (let's see if we can change that in 2011!), and I realize that, but I will make a conscious effort to do my best.
My reasons would be the belief that recycling is important, American consumption has gotten out of control, and there is no accountability for the manufacturing processes overseas, causing an outrageous toll on our Environment and threatening our health. I won't get on my soapbox today (sort of too late for that), but you might want to consider watching The Story of Stuff, which is short, highly entertaining and informative, and also visiting the Handmade Toy Alliance to see why small business owners are at risk due to the unrealistic standards of the CPSIA and mass manufacturing corporations who have found loop holes and been permitted exemptions to these outrageous testing standards (an independent testing groups recently found toxic toys are STILL on the shelves in Target and Wal-Mart stores despite the CPSIA and it's new legal limits on lead levels.)
The bottom line for me is that I don't trust these faceless corporations anymore. Their bottom line is money. I am responsible for the health and well being of my family, and I believe we have lost touch with what's really important in life - each other. So I'm going to support my community of small business owners, the people of Tacoma in particular. I'm going to cut back on the amount of future landfill crap that comes through my door. I'm going to look for items that we need instead of want, and if I do find something I want, it will have a story, a history, and even a little bit of meaning.
And I'm happy that I'll have more excuses to go to thrift stores and antiques shops!
The other thing I would like to share with you, my dearest reader, is that you should check out Etsy. Etsy is a site dedicated to sellers of handmade items, supplies for crafters and makers of hand made items, and all things vintage. It's full of beautiful pictures, stories and descriptions about the items you're purchasing, and there is something for everybody on the site. There are many many beautiful and well-crafted items. Here are a few shops I've purchased gorgeous items from and that I have received gifts purchased from these shop (thank goodness my husband is an Etsy convert!) in the past:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/beehivekitchenware?ref=seller_info - Heart Measuring Spoons
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ZayneeDesigns - Custom Scarflette (love!)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/yardia - A lovely card sent to a friend
http://www.etsy.com/shop/mamaroots - Custom Give, Save, Spend tags for my girls
I've been hearing a lot of people lately express their fear of using Etsy. They may have been overwhelmed by choice in the past, or have not had luck with finding exactly what they want. I'll share in my next post why you should give it another shot and I'll walk you through doing a successful search, requesting custom items (the best way to get exactly what you want!), and all the wonderful hidden gems Etsy has to offer that you never even knew about!
Showing posts with label CPSIA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CPSIA. Show all posts
10.17.2010
6.22.2010
Cherished Toys
I'm thinking about my childhood tonight. I remember some of my toys very distinctly - I had My Little Pony horses that were scented. I had a Barbie that winked and brushed her hair back out of her eyes with her hands. Of course, I remember the Super Nintendo and Atari!
But the things I will always cherish are the heirloom toys given to me by my grandmothers, aunts and family friends. These are the toys, clothes, blankets, books that were made with love and great care. There were no natural toy stores or stores that specialized in European import toys when I was a kid. Etsy, which features handmade goods and loads of amazing handcrafted toys, certainly didn't exist. The heirloom toys that were given to me were made to last and were made with skilled hands of crafty women who had my health and safety in mind as much as my enjoyment when making these items. Some of these items had an incredible attention to detail. I had a soft book for quiet time that was appliqued and featured activities like a fabric clock, a snap on apple orchard (you would pick and count the apples, and sort by color), a little button vest and shoe tying. I remember playing with that quiet book more than any other toy we had. There were cat pillows with mother and baby cats that were patchworked and had embroidered whiskers. I believe my grandma purchased them from a local crafter in her town. I love those pillows and still have them. My mom hung onto to most of these items, if they weren't totally worn from use.
When I grew up and had kids, I looked around the room one day and realized that nearly every toy we owned was made of cheap plastic, and kept breaking. Since I didn't have anyone gift me any handmade toys (but we did receive some really lovely blankets!) I started looking online for heirloom quality toys that my kids could cherish. For Christmas one year I bought toys online from shops like A Toy Garden, which features high quality and mostly natural and handmade toys, hoping to find that while these toys were higher priced, they were made to last as well as please my children. I was completely blown away by the quality and craftsmanship of these toys. By the next year I had become mildly obsessed with handmade toys. The kids loved them. They were different from everything else and treated with extra care (well, most of the time.) Five years later my daughters still play with many of these toys and they haven't worn down or broken.
Now there is a great resource for all of us parents who do not want our children to play with toxic toys that break easily, but instead want to give our children quality toys produced by people with loving hands and sold by business owners with a conscience. The Handmade Toy Alliance has a wonderful list of members who manufacture children's items, handcraft toys, and make these toys available for sale to people like you and me!
But the Handmade Toy Alliance also exists for a bigger purpose. These toys are at risk of becoming unavailable to us for sale. Here is some info on the history and mission of the HTA from their Website:
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small parts, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.
The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number. All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and updating their molds to include batch labels.
For small American, Canadian, and European toy makers, however, the costs of mandatory testing, to the tune of up to $4,000 per toy, will likely drive them out of business. And the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007. Toy makers won't be the only ones impacted by the CPSIA, the thousands of US businesses who offer clothing, jewelry and other gifts for children --in essence-- the entire children's industry will be as well.
The authors of the CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public's trust. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade and small batch children's products will no longer be legal in the US. The Handmade Toy Alliance represents these toy makers, manufacturers, importers and retailers. We actively lobby the House of Representatives and the Senate for CPSIA reform and also serve as a collective voice to the CPSC. Thriving small businesses are crucial to the financial health of our nation. Let's amend the CPSIA so that all businesses large and small are able to comply and survive!
Please support these businesses and visit the Handmade Toy Alliance's Website this week to learn more.
But the things I will always cherish are the heirloom toys given to me by my grandmothers, aunts and family friends. These are the toys, clothes, blankets, books that were made with love and great care. There were no natural toy stores or stores that specialized in European import toys when I was a kid. Etsy, which features handmade goods and loads of amazing handcrafted toys, certainly didn't exist. The heirloom toys that were given to me were made to last and were made with skilled hands of crafty women who had my health and safety in mind as much as my enjoyment when making these items. Some of these items had an incredible attention to detail. I had a soft book for quiet time that was appliqued and featured activities like a fabric clock, a snap on apple orchard (you would pick and count the apples, and sort by color), a little button vest and shoe tying. I remember playing with that quiet book more than any other toy we had. There were cat pillows with mother and baby cats that were patchworked and had embroidered whiskers. I believe my grandma purchased them from a local crafter in her town. I love those pillows and still have them. My mom hung onto to most of these items, if they weren't totally worn from use.
When I grew up and had kids, I looked around the room one day and realized that nearly every toy we owned was made of cheap plastic, and kept breaking. Since I didn't have anyone gift me any handmade toys (but we did receive some really lovely blankets!) I started looking online for heirloom quality toys that my kids could cherish. For Christmas one year I bought toys online from shops like A Toy Garden, which features high quality and mostly natural and handmade toys, hoping to find that while these toys were higher priced, they were made to last as well as please my children. I was completely blown away by the quality and craftsmanship of these toys. By the next year I had become mildly obsessed with handmade toys. The kids loved them. They were different from everything else and treated with extra care (well, most of the time.) Five years later my daughters still play with many of these toys and they haven't worn down or broken.
Now there is a great resource for all of us parents who do not want our children to play with toxic toys that break easily, but instead want to give our children quality toys produced by people with loving hands and sold by business owners with a conscience. The Handmade Toy Alliance has a wonderful list of members who manufacture children's items, handcraft toys, and make these toys available for sale to people like you and me!
But the Handmade Toy Alliance also exists for a bigger purpose. These toys are at risk of becoming unavailable to us for sale. Here is some info on the history and mission of the HTA from their Website:
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small parts, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.
The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number. All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and updating their molds to include batch labels.
For small American, Canadian, and European toy makers, however, the costs of mandatory testing, to the tune of up to $4,000 per toy, will likely drive them out of business. And the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007. Toy makers won't be the only ones impacted by the CPSIA, the thousands of US businesses who offer clothing, jewelry and other gifts for children --in essence-- the entire children's industry will be as well.
The authors of the CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public's trust. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade and small batch children's products will no longer be legal in the US. The Handmade Toy Alliance represents these toy makers, manufacturers, importers and retailers. We actively lobby the House of Representatives and the Senate for CPSIA reform and also serve as a collective voice to the CPSC. Thriving small businesses are crucial to the financial health of our nation. Let's amend the CPSIA so that all businesses large and small are able to comply and survive!
Please support these businesses and visit the Handmade Toy Alliance's Website this week to learn more.
6.15.2010
Archives - Struggling Tonight 05/27/2010
Originally Posted 05/27/2010
Today I spent most of the day researching the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) guidelines that are set to go into effect in about 250 days. These guidelines are supposed to prevent corporate manufacturers of toys and products for kids from unethical practices (making lead-filled, pthalate-soaked toys and products.) In 2007 when there were mass recalls on toys, all of them were manufactured in China where there is almost no regulation or accountability on what is produced and how it's produced for that matter. The CPSIA exists to "establish consumer product safety standards and other safety requirements for children’s products and to reauthorize and modernize the Consumer Product Safety Commission. " Basically, they're calling for testing of all products for toxins like lead and pthalates, tracking labels on all items to trace to the manufactured batch if there is a problem, certification that you comply to the rules. It's supposed to force these dirty, unconscionable corporations to abide by regular human standards, because most of us don't want toxic toys or clothes.
I'm not convinced. It won't run them out of business, and it will barely affect their business practices. Big corporations can survive this. In fact, they will THRIVE because of this. Now that they know the rules, they can figure out how to get around them and still make a buck. Meanwhile, everything is mass produced, cheaply made, disposable. Everything is outsourced. American made products are too expensive and they know it. We Americans want to consume and we want to consume now. We want what we want to be available and affordable. When it breaks or we get bored, we just throw it out and get a new one. That's the American way, right?
Unfortunately for me and many other small business owners who manufacture handmade goods that could be marketed or sold to children, who choose eco-conscious, non-toxic and/or recycled materials, who hold THEMSELVES accountable and actually care about what materials they use and whether or not it could potentially do harm, it appears there was no thought as to how we might survive. We don't want to use toxic materials. We want our products to be safe for kids! But we are called to test our items as well. Okay fine. Even if we bought items that were already tested and certified by the manufacturer of our supplies, meet the standards, etc? Yup, we're evidently expected to re-test, put tracking labels in our items, etc. all over again. It's not cheap to test. Definitely not cheap to test EVERY item. It would be impossible as a home-based business to stay in business and conform to all these expectations. We'll be run out of business. I'll be run out of business before I even really begin. Chalk another one up for the corporations.
I'm mad. I'm discouraged. I don't like the fact that there is no support for the little guy anymore. I don't want cheap, crappy products anymore. I want to know that the people who make what I buy, care about their products and care about my safety. I want what I buy to be of good quality and to last. I make products of good quality that are meant to last, and they won't cost an arm and a leg. Yeah, they might be a little more expensive than what you might find at a corporate chain store, but I stand by what I make, guarantee it will be unique and it will withstand the extra washings you'll need to do (since you only bought one skirt instead of two.) I hope I'll be around long enough to sell to you someday.
If you give a damn, visit the Handmade Toy Alliance website, write your Congressman and State Representative, know what you stand to lose: quality, unique, handmade goods. Made with care and pride, made to last and made to love. Made to support families who need the income. Maybe even made in your neighborhood.
Today I spent most of the day researching the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) guidelines that are set to go into effect in about 250 days. These guidelines are supposed to prevent corporate manufacturers of toys and products for kids from unethical practices (making lead-filled, pthalate-soaked toys and products.) In 2007 when there were mass recalls on toys, all of them were manufactured in China where there is almost no regulation or accountability on what is produced and how it's produced for that matter. The CPSIA exists to "establish consumer product safety standards and other safety requirements for children’s products and to reauthorize and modernize the Consumer Product Safety Commission. " Basically, they're calling for testing of all products for toxins like lead and pthalates, tracking labels on all items to trace to the manufactured batch if there is a problem, certification that you comply to the rules. It's supposed to force these dirty, unconscionable corporations to abide by regular human standards, because most of us don't want toxic toys or clothes.
I'm not convinced. It won't run them out of business, and it will barely affect their business practices. Big corporations can survive this. In fact, they will THRIVE because of this. Now that they know the rules, they can figure out how to get around them and still make a buck. Meanwhile, everything is mass produced, cheaply made, disposable. Everything is outsourced. American made products are too expensive and they know it. We Americans want to consume and we want to consume now. We want what we want to be available and affordable. When it breaks or we get bored, we just throw it out and get a new one. That's the American way, right?
Unfortunately for me and many other small business owners who manufacture handmade goods that could be marketed or sold to children, who choose eco-conscious, non-toxic and/or recycled materials, who hold THEMSELVES accountable and actually care about what materials they use and whether or not it could potentially do harm, it appears there was no thought as to how we might survive. We don't want to use toxic materials. We want our products to be safe for kids! But we are called to test our items as well. Okay fine. Even if we bought items that were already tested and certified by the manufacturer of our supplies, meet the standards, etc? Yup, we're evidently expected to re-test, put tracking labels in our items, etc. all over again. It's not cheap to test. Definitely not cheap to test EVERY item. It would be impossible as a home-based business to stay in business and conform to all these expectations. We'll be run out of business. I'll be run out of business before I even really begin. Chalk another one up for the corporations.
I'm mad. I'm discouraged. I don't like the fact that there is no support for the little guy anymore. I don't want cheap, crappy products anymore. I want to know that the people who make what I buy, care about their products and care about my safety. I want what I buy to be of good quality and to last. I make products of good quality that are meant to last, and they won't cost an arm and a leg. Yeah, they might be a little more expensive than what you might find at a corporate chain store, but I stand by what I make, guarantee it will be unique and it will withstand the extra washings you'll need to do (since you only bought one skirt instead of two.) I hope I'll be around long enough to sell to you someday.
If you give a damn, visit the Handmade Toy Alliance website, write your Congressman and State Representative, know what you stand to lose: quality, unique, handmade goods. Made with care and pride, made to last and made to love. Made to support families who need the income. Maybe even made in your neighborhood.
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