Big W faces PR trial following recall of highly-flammable kids clothes
Big W is facing a major PR trial after it was forced to recall 35 lines of children’s sleepwear following an ACCC investigation which found that garments posed a high fire danger risk.
The retailer this weekend launched press ads with the headline “Big W Children’s Nightwear Apology”. The ad referred to an audit carried out by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission which initially revealed that three garments did not comply with the mandatory product safety standard.
But following an internal investigation Big W decided to recall 35 of its lines after it found that while they were labelled with a low fire danger, there was in fact a high fire danger associated with the garments.
In its ads, Big W has urged customers to return the garments to its stores for a full refund.
The latest press ads followed an ACCC press release calling on parents to “check children’s sleepwear after Big W’s recall of 27 styles incorrectly labelled as low fire danger”. At the time ACCC deputy chair Peter Kell said: “I am pleased to see Woolworths [which owns Big W] has acted promptly by withdrawing these garments from sale and instigating a voluntary recall.”
Christopher Zinn spokesman for consumer advocacy group, Choice, said he would be interested to find out how many people have actually brought the items back to Big W. “Items like this could have been bought months ago and consumers may not have yet connected the two,” he said.
The Big W spokesman said the number of recalled items sold and subsequently returned remains “confidential”.
The spokesman added: “From our point of view the ads were a reminder to our customers that these items were recalled and were a follow up to our initial recall ads in September. We thought it was prudent to remind our customers. We believe it’s important to take the right steps for our customer and get the right message out, which is what we did – in standard recall format as approved by regulators.
“Customers are bringing the products back and they are encouraged to do this. Recall notices aren’t uncommon in this industry.”
The spokesman said no injuries have been reported as a result of consumers wearing the garments.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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What? Are they self-combustible? Not to undermine the importance of protecting our children from harm, but, NO clothing is ‘low fire risk’ unless of course you take into accout the undergarments worn by racing drivers or firemen’s suits. Yes, some materials are more susceptible to burn quickly, but all materials burn.
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