Jessica Waldegar is an artist by training, but she can also do the math on a new federal law she fears could put an end to her handmade baby products business.
A law passed by Congress in August bans lead and phthalates in toys and mandates that children’s products, including clothing, undergo third-party testing for those substances and other safety hazards.
A stay-at-home mother with three young children, Waldegar designs and sews her Kunklebaby brand clothes, bibs, burp clothes and blankets in her Columbus home and sells them online. To comply with the new testing requirements, handmade product makers like her would have to pay $150 to $4,000 per product depending on the number of components in it, according to the Handmade Toy Alliance, a grassroots group that has been lobbying for changes to the regulations.
That kind of per-item testing cost is a big problem, Waldegar said, since she usually makes only six of any one design to give them a limited-edition appeal. Her prices start at $5 per item, and nearly all of her products are made of cotton and don’t contain lead or phthalates, a chemical used to soften plastic.
“That (testing) cost can’t be spread over the remaining items,” Waldegar said. “There’s no way I could stay in business. No one will pay $500 for a bib.”
Logo from Kunklebaby