China: A Call for Enforcement
By Carole Sloan -- Home Textiles Today, 7/9/2007 12:00:00 AM
There has been the age-old challenge of intellectual property rights (IPR) violations in dealing with the Chinese. It's almost a given in the entertainment world, albeit, not an acceptable given. And the problem has spread across product lines to the design work of American fabric and home textiles, with a similar frustration level in dealing with authorities.
As if the IPR scenario was not bad enough, the situation has exploded to include products that can actually harm humans and animals.
Beginning the most recent series of alerts regarding Chinese-made products were the pet food contamination episodes. These were quickly followed by an antifreeze ingredient in toothpastes, lead paint in toys, tires with treads that separated, and most recently, seafood and fish that were contaminated by various noxious elements.
And just last week, a report in The New York Times related that the Chinese government has acknowledged that nearly 20% of its food and consumer products were substandard or tainted.
While food, toys, and tires are immediate health and safety threats, there is a clear potential relationship with the home textiles business, and retailing in general.
First is the clear problem of IPR, but even more challenging is the issue of quality. It's one thing for an American retailer or supplier to ally with a Chinese producer for a product that has explicitly defined specs. But how many of these products actually are tested — and rejected if they are found not up to standard?
Who is around in the Chinese producing marketplace to actually police the standards?
There are many ramifications for the American marketplace in home furnishings. Just last week, the Federal regulations on mattress flammability kicked in. And as mattresses are just beginning to be produced offshore, the liability factor becomes a key issue. The U.S. receiver is the one liable for compliance, and as one mattress producer remarked, there's not a retailer he knows who will sign off on this.
And the mattress situation is just the beginning. Flammability regs are steadily moving through the California bureaucracy for upholstered furniture and home textiles, as well as at the Federal level via the Consumer Products Safety Commission.
And then there's the issue of formaldehyde, a substance that has been found in food, according to reports, as well as in textile products for the home.
Which retailers will accept responsibility for compliance? Surely one must be Wal-Mart, whose vast merchandise supply across the board comes from China.
We would love your feedback!
-
It's a Material World
Jul 7, 2011 -
WolfHome Focuses on Fashion Fabric
Jan 28, 2012 -
Words of Wisdom from HTT's Carole Sloan
Jan 24, 2012 -
Flash site Mertado expands into home textiles
Aug 19, 2011 -
Mary Ella Gabler
Mar 31, 2012
Featured Company
-
FurnitureCore.com
FurnitureCore.com is a dynamic web application aimed at the furniture industry. Retailers and manufacturers alike will find our deep reserve of tools to be exactly what their furniture business needs.www.furniturecore.com... more
Most Recent Resources
- Getting the most out of offline leads
- Free Shipping and the Importance of Onsite Promotion
- Should Branded Manufacturers Participate in Flash Sales?
- Rugs 101 - Special Edition
- How Big Is Your Label
- Choosing a Web Site Developer
- Convergence: Tie Your Online & Offline Experience...
- Social Networks to Social Shopping
- Why Brands and Their Retailers are Facebook’s Biggest...
- Web Based Intelligence Gathering
- The Future of Tablets
- Shopatron: Bicycles & eCommerce
- A Guide to Holiday eCommerce Success
- Mattress Buying 101 - Connecting with Consumers
- Designing Your Brand’s Website for eCommerce
- Global Sourcing in 2010: Doing More With Less
- Comparing Four Options for Turning Web Site Traffic into...
- Are You Prepared for the 2009 Holiday Season? A Branded...
- Design, Develop, Deliver: The Three D's to Digitally...
