"Seoul authorities find toxic substances in Shein and Temu products

Seoul (AFP) – Women's accessories sold by some of the world's most popular online shopping firms contained toxic substances sometimes hundreds of times above acceptable levels, authorities in Seoul said Wednesday."  --france24.com

The clothing industry is desperately under-regulated. Authorities do not have the budget/personnel to test every product that is imported. When they do, however, it's common to find products with off-the-chart levels of toxic substances. 

Seoul officials found shoes with 229x legal limit of pthalates (endocrine disruptors that can cause infertility!) nailpolish with dioxane (carcinogen!) sandals with 11x limit of lead (neurotoxin!) and formaldehyde in baseball caps. 

Surely children's clothes are better regulated?  How about a children's jacket with 622x legal limit of pthalates! 

Fast fashion brands seem to be the biggest culprits, including Shein, Forever 21, WalMart and Amazon (greenamerica.org). However, many athletic brands still test positive for PFAS (carcinogen and hormone disruptor) and BPA (hormone disruptor) like Athleta, Lululemon, Adidas, and Nike (levinlaw.com and ewg.org). 

These are not outliers. A 2020 study found harmful AZO dyes in half of the textile samples tested (Springer Nature) and in 2022, 18% of "non-toxic" children's clothes were found to have PFAS (Silent Spring Institute). 

Polluted waterway in Bangladesh (British Vogue) 

There are a number of voluntary testing certifications available, and Oeko-Tex is the best! I can be absolutely sure that there's "nothing nasty in the dyes or finishes," as I'm so fond of saying. 

"A thoroughly German organization, Oeko-Tex takes pride in how strict its tests are--they go way beyond regulations in Europe and the United States, testing for hundreds of substances." -To Dye For by Alden Wicker. 

Eventually I hope to live in a world where we don't have to think about whether or not our clothes are poisoning us. Until more reliable checks are in place, I'm proud of all of the Oeko-Tex Certified pieces that come out of my studio!