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RC2 Corporation, Nancy Davies (of Salmon Borre Group)
1. How do the recalls impact the specialty toy industry? How has your business been affected?
We can't really speculate on what the near- or long-term impact might be on the specialty toy industry. What we can say is that we remained focused on recovering recalled toys and replacing them with new, safe product at the retail level. We continue to replace the items as quickly as possible for consumers.
2. How do you know that your toys are safe?
We take our toy safety responsibilities very seriously, because nothing is more important than keeping children safe. Our recall occurred because our specifications to our contract manufacturers were not met. We've learned from that experience as well as the experience of other manufacturers and have established several significant safeguards to protect our toy quality.
Since June, RC2 has instituted its Multi-Check Toy Safety System, which includes several additional safeguards to protect our toy quality, including:
· A new, tougher certification program for paint suppliers and manufacturers
· A new 10-step paint safety control procedure for our contract manufacturers
· Increased scope and frequency of testing of both incoming materials and finished products
· Test reporting on every batch of paint used in the manufacture of our products
· Increased random inspections and audits of contract manufacturers and vendors
· Vendor compliance seminars to assure clear understanding of our specifications and requirements and zero-tolerance for variations from these requirements
And, we're not finished. As a company, we are fully committed to the continued search for new ways to further improve toy safety. We're confident that RC2 is doing the right things, including our recent recall, to ensure the safety of our toys.
3. What should retailers tell their customers to assure them that they're buying safe products?
While we can't speak for other companies, what we can say is that we hope that parents recognize that our Thomas toys have been subjected to intense internal scrutiny and testing and are the safer for it. RC2 values the trust that parents have placed in our Thomas wooden railway toys over the years, and is working very hard to preserve that trust. We are fully dedicated to creating safe, high quality toys that provide enjoyment and spark imagination – the toys you can and should expect from us.
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SafetyTots International Ltd., Paula Geonie, president
We produce only in the USA. Our products are safe; they’re made from paper and the CD Roms are purchased and printed here. Not the popular way to go for years now. Buyers have said to me, that I’m crazy and that we won’t be able to compete. Well, my answer is that one day people will open up their eyes and see how saving a few dollars isn’t everything. Our children are our future and we must protect them whether here or on the other side of the world. It’s essential that we make them, not our wallets, a priority. We must take a stand and offer tax incentives to manufacturers to come back to the states, not to stay there. Here is where they belong and where we once again will control what our children will be playing with.
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Sarah's Silks, Sarah Lee
SarahSilks.com
We have been concerned as many of our silk toys are made in China, or at
least the fabric is woven there. Many of our customers have contacted us for info in the past couple of weeks. We have assured them that all of our toys have been safety tested at an independent lab called Intertek Labtest. Our products have shown no heavy metals, including lead, in the dyes and paints. We have also visited China to see where our silk is
woven and sewn and found the conditions to be excellent.
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Sassafras Enterprises, Katie Finch, sales manager
1. How do the recalls impact the specialty toy industry? How has your business been affected?
Our business has been affected because retailers are more hesitant to purchase anything made in China, regardless of what safety tests have been performed.
2. How do you know that your toys are safe?
We have all of our toys tested in China and are having our product tested by United States’ agencies as well.
3. What should retailers tell their customers to assure them that they're buying safe products?
Retailers should tell their customers that tests are being performed in the US now as well, so the credibility has been taken to a higher level.
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Schylling Toys, Stephen Medina
SCHYLLING CODE OF CONDUCT
Schylling is committed to conduct our business pursuant to all laws governing its domestic and foreign operations and to conduct its affairs using the highest moral, legal and ethical standards. This Code of Conduct reinforces our commitment to these standards. It applies to all Schylling employees and to any person performing work or providing services on Schylling’s behalf, including field agents, temporary and seasonal employees, and affiliates, in each case in their capacity as such. Any person who acts, or who could be perceived as acting, on Schylling’s behalf should be made aware of Schylling’s Code of Conduct.
1. Product Safety. We are committed to market only products that comply with applicable safety standards, exercise due diligence in regard to the safety of our products and take effective action to assure the safety of consumers when necessary.
2. Ethical Manufacturing. It is Schylling’s continued commitment to responsible manufacturing and distribution in a lawful, safe and environmental responsible manner. We urge and expect our suppliers, vendors, sub-contractors and agents, who provide products and services on our behalf, to operate in a safe and healthy working and/or living conditions. We will not do business with companies that fail to do so.
3. Intellectual Property. Schylling’s intellectual property, including trademarks, trade names, copyrights, patents and similar rights or interests, is among its most important assets. All employees share in the responsibility to protect Schylling’s intellectual property. We also recognize and respect the intellectual property rights of others.
4. Advertising and Marketing. Schylling is committed to assure that its advertising and marketing, in whatever form, is truthful and conforms to applicable laws, rules and regulations.
5. Environmental Protection. Schylling is committed to practice good stewardship of the environment by working to reduce the environmental impact of its operations and products through the promotion of pollution reduction and recycling where appropriate.
6. Non-Discrimination. Schylling is committed to treat its employees, suppliers, customers and business associates with fairness, respect and dignity and without discrimination on the basis of race, gender, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or other protected characteristics.
7. Business Practices. Schylling is committed to practice honesty and integrity in all business dealings and be truthful in all statements. We should never take unfair advantage of anyone through manipulation, concealment, abuse of privileged information, misrepresentation of material facts or any other unfair-dealing practice.
Statement of Guarantee
Factory:
Address:
Phone:
Contact:
I ________________ of ________________ guarantee that all products produced from our factory use only high quality and lead free materials and paint. All of our products conform to all ASTM and CPSC safety testing guidelines. If for any reason our product do not meet any of the requirements above, we will take full responsibility for all costs that are incurred for defective or recalled product.
Sincerely,
Signature: ______________________
Date: __________________________
Print Name and Title:
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SmartLab Toys, Anna Johnson
1. How do the recalls impact the specialty toy industry? How has your business been affected?
So far, the impact on our business has been minimal, however there is a general buzz from the public about toys made in China and the fear that they are unsafe on the whole. The president of our company was recently asked by a neighbor if he could recommend a toy for an 8-year-old that was NOT made in China.
2. How do you know that your toys are safe?
As with all toy manufacturers, we are responsible for meeting the required safety standards established by individual countries ASTM, CAN, CE and AUS. Working in partnership with our manufacturers, we’ve implemented preliminary testing throughout the development process of all products. This includes testing and approval of raw materials such as paint, clay, even the screws that secure battery compartments. Upon receipt of a passing preliminary testing, which can require several submissions manufacturing begins.
It is through the diligent preliminary testing that we are assured our products will pass final testing. We will not ship a product out of China if it fails any safety standard.
3. What should retailers tell their customers to assure them that they’re buying safe products?
Retailers can only communicate what they know from the manufacturer about their safety testing protocol and processes. Our company is drafting a safety statement to post on our website and communicate to retailers to make it easier for them to recommend our toys with confidence.
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Sunny & Co. Toys Inc., Eddie Zhu
Email:sales@sunnypuppets.com
www.SunnyPuppets.com
1. At this point, the recalls haven’t affected our business.
2. All our toys have been tested and passed the European standard, which is more demanding than here.
3. We assure our customers that we always maintain our quality standard even if it means we might be out of some items instead of bad quality toys.
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ThinkWorks, Derek Cabrera, Ph.D., president and CEO
derekc@thinkandthrive.com
http://www.thinkandthrive.com
1. How do the recalls impact the specialty toy industry? How has your business been affected?
I think that the recalls effect the mass market (big box) toy companies and industry more than the specialty toy industry. The big box toy manufacturers are cutting corners wherever they can and flooding the market with cheap toys. Specialty toy makers like ThinkWorks are putting a lot more thought and time into the toys they create. Most of us are parents who want to see toys like the ones we are creating for our own kids. At ThinkWorks, for example, our own children use the toys we make.
2. How do you know that your toys are safe?
We have taken painstaking measures to design our toys with safety as our top priority. In addition, we test our toys according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission Standards using an outside and objective testing agency recommended by the Toy Industry Association. We spend a lot of time understanding the regulations and also why they are in place. In the case of ThinkBlocks this means reading carefully through article §1500.19 and ensuring that our toys meet these standards as well as reading the history of swallowing dangers and magnet dangers and understanding the specific reasons why such things are dangerous, then designing toys differently. The magnets in our toys are sealed in the wall of the toy using an ultrasonic welding process not merely pushed into an open cavity to save on assembly costs like the toys that were recalled. Short of destroying the toy with tools, the magnets should never be exposed. Of course, all small parts and especially magnetic small parts should be kept away from children less than 3 years old according to regulations. We increase this number to 4 years old just to be even more safe.
3. What should retailers tell their customers to assure them that they’re buying safe products?
First, retailers and customers should know that the recent Mattel recall was a manipulation of the news reports to make China look bad; Mattel was put in a positive light. Most of the recall involved design issues such as inserted magnets than can fall out of the toy and be swallowed. This is the fault of Mattel designers, not the Chinese manufacturer who simply did what the designers asked them to do. The lead paint issue was in fact the fault of the manufacturer in China, but the recall involved far more magnetic toys than lead paint toys. Secondly, retailers and customers should know that 85% of all toys are made in China. When they hear that the majority of recalls are for toys made in China, it should not be a surprise.
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Time for Manners, Holly Beth Moncher
1. I think the recalls may affect the specialty toy industry less than the big manufacturers like Mattel and others, because the specialty and educational toys are produced in much smaller quantities and, because of that, I think the testing and checking process can be more thorough and careful. Also, it may be that (and this is just my own impression) the small specialty and educational companies feel more of a connection to their products’ ultimate users (the children) and take a more personal interest in their safety.
2. I mainly produce DVDs, but the one toy I do make (a plastic dinnerware set) went through numerous testing procedures, for which I have extensive check-off lists and assurances.
3. Maybe specialty manufacturers should tell their retailers about the checks and tests that their products went through and assure them that there are no harmful materials. If necessary, a copy of the test results could be provided.
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Tiny Love, Desiree Paquette, vice president of marketing
1. How do the recalls impact the specialty toy industry? How has your business been affected?
We believe that all parents always want the best products for their children. The recalls will encourage parents choose brands from companies that they trust to manufacture safe toys. The swift actions taken so far by manufacturers in the toy recalls should serve to maintain the trust between the toy industry and parents. Our customers trust Tiny Love to continue to bring quality, safe toys into their homes that will delight their babies. Our business continues to be strong in the specialty channel.
2. How do you know that your toys are safe?
Following the recall, and in the spirit of our continued commitment to maintain the highest level of quality and safety, we sent our products for additional inspection. As expected, the results confirmed that our products do not contain any lead, soluble elements or migrated elements.
On a regular basis our Quality Control System has been operating in three parallel tracks:
1. The QC department in our Corporate Headquarters is responsible for quality and safety policies and plans. It defines Tiny Love®'s special requirements which are higher than the international safety standards.
2. The QC department in China - Tiny Love maintains an office in China, with a Quality Control Department. This department operates in addition to and independently of the outside Quality Control departments. Its responsibility is to implement the company's safety and quality policies.
3. Inspection during the manufacturing process - In order to achieve our high safety and quality standards, we operate in complemental levels. We run independent laboratory tests for our final products and raw materials, as well as quality inspections during the different stages of production .
In all its years of operation Tiny Love has been adamant that all our products will be subjected to the most rigorous tests and held up not only to international safety standards, but also to our internally implemented, stricter, Tiny Love standards.
3. What should retailers tell their customers to assure them that they're buying safe products?
Tiny Love is making every effort to insure that the quality of its products will be safe for babies use all around the world. Following the latest events, we at Tiny Love immediately resent our products for additional inspection. As expected, the results confirmed our products' compliance with all international safety standards. We have initiated a thorough revision of our entire Quality Assurance procedures and have significantly expanded our AQ departments, both in our china offices and in our development center.
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TOYOPS, Eugene Hull, Ph. D.
We represent products made in Taiwan and the USA. All of the kits we produce or market are approved for European distribution where standards are superior to those in the USA.
Companies have to make intelligent decisions based on quality and safety
even if they lose the CUSTOMER that care about price only. How many times
do we need to learn that we chase the bottom price at the cost of our children’s health?
We certainly will show our testing results. Will the brand x companies?
Tell the customers that you have asked for the safety testing and have
determined that they pass European standards, and then you are OK.
Our kits do pass the European CE standards and we take pride in only
distributing our kits and tree toys that can cross all borders.
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Toys’Ntayls, Sarah Itzhaki
1. How do the recalls impact the specialty toy industry? How has your
business been affected?
First of all, it is important to state that these recalls are the initiative of the manufacturers, thus not compromising their reliability. They have taken responsibility and acted in due course. However, I believe that the recalls have less effect on the specialty toy industry because manufacturers in this industry may be utilizing high
standards. It has not affected our business as we as a part of this industry that manufactures high-end educational products, thus upholding the same high standard policy.
2. How do you know that your toys are safe?
We have passed the ASTM compliance test for our products, and plan to test
our products on a regular basis, testing random samples of each batch we manufacture.
3. What should retailers tell their customers to assure them that they’re buying safe products?
Retailers should be assured by their toy manufacturers that their products are safe complying with ASTM as shown on a test certificate. In addition the safety seal should be labeled on the toy, along with any age appropriate warning.
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Ttalf Corporation, Patricia Littwin, CEO/Founder
Yackleball.com
1. How do the recalls impact the specialty toy industry? How has your business been affected?
I am seeing with my stores the specialty industry is booming and getting ready to do even higher sales then ever for the Holiday season this year! More people are going to Specialty Stores to look for "Made in the USA" products which they cant find in the big box stores! Yes, we are being affected! We manufacturer our products in the USA, not
just the packaging but all our products are 100% Made in the USA with pride and supreme quality. Our phones have been ringing off the hook since the last huge recall. Parents have had enough and want to purchase American made products. There isn't a lot of Toy Manufacturers out there who put in the extra work and cost to be able manufacturer in this Country and so we are reaping the benefits as are our stores. We only sell to Specialty Stores and so they are selling out fast and reorders are coming in quickly. We just had our first small backorder which we have beefed things up to solve this from happening again and will be able to handle the demand of our stores.
2. How do you know that your toys are safe?
We have our Toys fully tested for all things that could be harmful to children. Our toys are made within our own quality control and shipped directly from us. We see and handle every single product. So, there isn't any chance of outside agents being able to switch materials or sabotage our toys!
3. What should retailers tell their customers to assure them that they're buying safe products?
Parents need to start buying quality products that are made with proper testing, that are used for the recommended age and products that have been what I call street tested! The other tests we do is that we physically play with children with the products. We have taken Yackle Ball to schools, YMCA, camps, daycares and each summer with the NC Special Olympics. We play Yackle Ball with everyone and watch to see if it really is as safe and educational as promised and IT IS!
Let me add, most people don't understand what it means to keep a product Made in the USA. Many plants are closing and moving overseas because of cost. We need to decide what is more important in this Country... spending a dollar or two more to know we have a Safe and Quality product and we are helping support America workers or buy something a few bucks cheaper and putting the lives of our families at risk. I am lucky because I was able to keep my products made in the USA and not have my price affected. Please support American Made Products!
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Warzone Ent. Co. (Playwarzone), Scott Watkins, marketing
PlayWarzone.com
1. We do casting of white metal only -- no lead. We expect more business.
2. We know that our toys are in fact lead free because we pay more for the lead free metal.
3. Retailers may need to be able to point out on packaging that the item is lead free. The toy industry may want to label their toys lead free when applicable. We are going to do so for now on.
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William Mark Corp., Mark Forti
We still manufacture most of our hot products like X-zylo and Air Burst Rockets in the United States so it hasn’t affected our sales at all. We make sure our products are safety tested to make sure our toys are safe enough for the consumer. I know retailers like Learning Express are getting a lot more interest in U.S.-made products and so the retailers should let customers know which products are not made in China.
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Winning Moves, Laura Pecci, Director of Innovations & Acquisitions
1. How do the recalls impact the specialty toy industry? How has your business been affected?
It is too soon to tell what impact the recalls will have on the specialty toy industry. The holiday gift buying season will be telling. Since we sell games (not toys or dolls) and they do not contain magnets or lead paint, our business has not been affected. However, in an effort to assure consumers about our products and high safety standards, we posted a safety letter on our website.
2. How do you know that your toys are safe?
Winning Moves games are manufactured according to strict quality standards. None of our products contain magnets, and the vast majority are paint-free. The few items in our line that contain paint or ink, usually as tiny decorative touches, have been fully tested by independent laboratories. This is to assure that our high quality standards and rigorous safety standards (especially NO LEAD PAINT) are met. Winning Moves adheres to the
Consumer Product Safety Commissions toxicology requirements, which confirm the absence of lead in paint.
3. What should retailers tell their customers to assure them that they're buying safe products?
Retailers need to be cognizant that they are buying products from reputable companies who subject their toys and games to rigorous product safety tests. Also, many items (games especially) do not contain the components that triggered recently highly-publicized recalls. A manufacturer's good name and commitment to safety can reassure consumers that products bearing the company's logo are safe.
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Z-Man Games Inc., Zev Shlasinger
This does not affect me as I make games not toys, so they aren’t affected by the recalls.
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Zoobies, Ryan Treft
www.Zoobiespets.com
At Zoobies, we are not taking the current safety concerns on foreign manufactured products lightly. All Zoobies products have been tested and successfully passed the SG1, ASTM, CE, and EN71 standards. Unlike most toy companies, we have our own office overseas that has been strategically put in place to manage quality control and to ensure that our products are safe and that they adhere strictly to all toy safety regulations. We wish to make it clear that all Zoobies meet all necessary standards for safety for all the countries we are distributing. In addition, we have gone above and beyond the required standards and do our own metal detector testing with each shipment, as well as use certified safety labs to specifically test our product for lead content on a regular basis.
We recognize that the burden is on us to make sure our products are safe and trustworthy. We will continue to work hard to exceed the required standards and ensure safety. Feel free to contact us with any questions or further information at www.Zoobiepets.com.
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