Tagless garments causing chemical "burns"

[clb]

The first time I read about this I was irate to put it mildly. My DH talked me down and I had sort of put it out of my mind.

ETA: Hope your DD is okay.

[Blakes Mommy]

Thanks for the info!! Sorry, long post...

WOW....I thought one of my sons was just extra sensitive since he has slight autism and a few sensory issues. He is 3 and the tags bother him as well. He would try to pull his shirt away and look at what was bothering him back there. I noticed in a couple items that the tag had gotten scratchy from getting cracked around the edges, this depended on the garnment, some where fine and in tact and still bothered him. I would put a thin white undershirt underneath some of his long sleeve cotton shirts which worked out fine since it was cold out anyway. Then I noticed his fleece 2 piece p.j. tops were bothering him also. The ones I had gotten on sale last year but, not the new ones from this fall. I bough two packs of undershirts this fall in September and one was from this year and one from last year....I had not even noticed when I bought them until we started using them that the ones with the big label were bothering him and started to crack and get rough on the edges.

I decided to stop using these tags thinking either the rough edges on some or just the big vinyl tag were bothering him similar to a latex allergy or something. I never for one minute thought these were dangerous!!! My one year old was never bothered but, now after thinking about it he always wears onesies either long or short sleeve under most things since it's winter and low and behold his onesies are all old hand me downs from his big brother before those big rectangle tags!!! The only clothes he had been wearing with those tags for the most part weren't worn directly next to his skin.

I decided that the store should take back the ones with he cracking edged tags before I knew any of this but figued I was stuck with the ohter ones since they were in good condition and my son just was extra sensitive....Anyway, I took a couple shirts back with the cracked scratchy tags and they let me exchange them. The associates never even said anything like oh, these bother some kids....BTW I have a ton of clothes from Carters.

SUPRISE.....I was at the Wrentham outlets over the weekend and all of the sale items had these old tags and I thought it was strange they had all this mercandise from fall 2007 and recognized a lot of the clothes I had bought the year before. I could hardly find any items from this fall. I thought let me buy stuff for next year but didn't since every thing had those tags!!! One of the employees said they got such a weird shipment this time that made no sense. So where have all these clothes been since last year??? I would have assumed most got sold last year during spring clearance 2008. Where was all of the clearance that would be from this falls line??? HMMM...strange.

This is very disturbing that our children keep getting exposed to things and we just don't even have a clue about. bpa bottles, lead in vinyl bibs, phthlates in babywash, lotions, etc...and this has been only over the past year and a half!!!! No wonder conditions like ADD, Autism, Allergies etc...have been on the rise! Just my 2 cents...

[clc053103]

I'm sorry your daughter is reacting to the tagless tags! That's terrible!

What I really don't understand is, what is the PURPOSE of the tagless shirts? with the exception of a few hanes t's, every single tagless item I've gotten lately has a second tag on it somewhere. Even Gap boys underwear that has the "tagless" labeling has a secondary care tag hanging off of it on the inside of the waistband. Shirts all have care tags in the side. Why bother with the tagless labeling if it wasn't even eliminating a tag? Honestly, DS doesnt complain about tags at the neck, he only complains of the tags that rub the side of him.

[DrSally]

I'm sorry your daughter is reacting to the tagless tags! That's terrible!

What I really don't understand is, what is the PURPOSE of the tagless shirts? with the exception of a few hanes t's, every single tagless item I've gotten lately has a second tag on it somewhere. Even Gap boys underwear that has the "tagless" labeling has a secondary care tag hanging off of it on the inside of the waistband. Shirts all have care tags in the side. Why bother with the tagless labeling if it wasn't even eliminating a tag? Honestly, DS doesnt complain about tags at the neck, he only complains of the tags that rub the side of him.

Good point! I wish they would just go back to the old fashioned silky tags. I can see where a crinkly paper tag would bother, but a silky tag creates no irritation at all IMO.

[hillaryb]

I don't really care about the cost (Carter's has refunded the cost),

Did you have any trouble with the refund? I called today to find out how to get one, and they told me they would refund the full MSRP for each piece I return. Of course, I didn't pay the full MSRP when I got the clothes, and many were gifts. Just wondering if that was really the way it worked.

BTW, I was at a local store (Farm & Fleet) and they still had Fall 2007 Carter's merchandise on their clearance rack. So it's still out there, and not just on consignment shops, garage sales and hand-me-downs. Buyer beware and check the "tags" and for new items, check the Carter's price tag to see if it says "F07" on it at the beginning of a series of numbers.

[DrSally]

No, I didn't have any trouble with the refund. They did lose one of my packages, but when I contacted them, they sent out a refund for it. They send you a pp envelope and you send your clothes in and wait awhile for a check. They really have no way to know how much you pd. and I don't remember either. Also, many of the items were gifts. It's too bad they're still selling the 2007 clothes.

[kmak]

Holy *&^%%*&^*%(&$$! DS has the same problem! We were just at the Pediatric Pulmonologist yesterday and he was wanting to put DS through extensive food alergy tests because of his eczema. I talked the dr out of it for now. DS's eczema started with a patch on his upper back just below the collar line and has now spread over his torso. I know that all his winter pj's are Carters tagless, just not sure if they're in the recall or not. But if DS is prone to being sensitive anyway this could have pushed his little immune system over the edge. AAAAARRRRGGGG!

[DrSally]

Holy *&^%%*&^*%(&$$! DS has the same problem! We were just at the Pediatric Pulmonologist yesterday and he was wanting to put DS through extensive food alergy tests because of his eczema. I talked the dr out of it for now. DS's eczema started with a patch on his upper back just below the collar line and has now spread over his torso. I know that all his winter pj's are Carters tagless, just not sure if they're in the recall or not. But if DS is prone to being sensitive anyway this could have pushed his little immune system over the edge. AAAAARRRRGGGG!

YEah, ours started with the patch and then it would spread to the torso/back/chin/jaw/neck. It would go away if I bathed her and waited a few days, but came back every time I put her in another tagless onsie. IME so far, it isn't just the recalled ones, but most of the tagless onsies that are causing the problem now. It is my understanding that the 2007 line just has a larger tag, so more surface area for the body to be exposed to whatever is in the tag, KWIM? I'm trying to avoid all tagless clothes for now.

[WatchingThemGrow]

I know we have some from fall 07. Probably more than I realize. I'm going to pull them all out tomorrow. Can you take them to the Outlet or do you have to go through the website?

[DrSally]

I've never tried actually taking them to a store. I just did it by mail b/c my Carter's store is pretty far away anyway.