I will be writing more...

About this SAVE THE USED CHILDRENS CLOTHES issue, but lets say by Feb 9th I will be out of business and have to throw away all my inventory and lose thousands of dollars on perfectly good stuff. Here is a great pice about what is about to go down. If you care about this and you should b/c this will affect your future children and the amount of money you spend on already pricy clothes...

RESALE BILL Info--Please READ

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First, thank you very, very much for taking the time to read this. I realize it is a bit long, but it is of utmost importance that this information get out to the public and we let our senators and representatives know our feelings on the matter. They are the ones who voted on this, and are the ones who can enact a change. Please feel free to forward this email to your friends and family.

Save Second-hand
At issue is a new law which goes into effect February 10, 2009. You may have heard about it, but most people have not. It is titled CPSIA, which stands for Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Basically, what the act says, is that ALL, and yes, I mean ALL, products designed to be used by and for children under the age of 12 must be tested for lead levels. This means clothing, bedding, cribs, toys, highchairs, bibs, booties, hats, shoes, etc. ANY item that is made for a child must be tested. Now in essence, this is great. I am very happy that Congress and the Consumer Product Safety Commission is being proactive on the health and safety of our children. Unfortunately, the way the law is written, thousands of businesses will be forced to shut down.

Who will be affected by the CSPIA??? Large retailers, small companies that make wood toys, the local moms who make cloth diapers to sell, resale and consignment stores such as Childish Things, seasonal consignment sales such as Just Between Friends, Mothers of Twins Club sales, and many, many other businesses. There will be no more selling of children's items on Ebay, or Craigslist. It will be illegal to make an item and sell it at a church bazaar, unless the item is tested first. The cost of such testing is prohibitive to those people who do not mass produce items. The cost of the testing will be passed on to the consumer somewhere, so this in turn will drive prices up, even when our economy is such a sad state right now.

At first, I thought to myself, this is ridiculous. They can't just shut down all these businesses, especially with the economy the way it is. But, after reading through the entire law and multiple BLOG sites, I realized, yes, they can. Again, I support the idea of testing, but to test every item, even those which are inherently lead free, is crazy. There is a possibility that natural organic products will be exempted, but, if the fabric is dyed in any way, the item will have to go through testing.

The current ruling makes this new lead requirement retroactive. This means that a product that was produced several months ago, and which is safe and legally compliant today, will not be able to be sold on February 10. It means we are being held responsible for a standard that didn't even exist when those goods were made. This requirement will make second-hand items unavailable for a very long time because the requirement will continue to change 2 more times until the lead levels drop to 100 ppm by August 11, 2011.

This is what YOU can do:

Please call or write to our 2 senators and the representative of where you live. Let them know that you are calling and/or writing about the CPSIA Law. Tell them that in theory this new law is a good idea, but that they did not take into consideration the consequences it will have on all of us in these already financially trying times. Tell them whether you are a shopper or a consignor. Tell them how this law will affect you personally if you could no longer buy used items. Be passionate and persistent. Tell them that this law MUST BE AMENDED by NOT making the new lead requirement retroactive, and also that the CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys and other handmade items that have earned and kept the public's trust. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade toys, clothes, and other children's items will no longer be legal in the US.

If you would like more information on the act, I have included links at the bottom of this page for some sites which will give you a lot of information. Thank you again so very much for reading this email, and thank you too for your support of small businesses around the country.