Big W faces PR trial following recall of highly-flammable kids clothes

Tim Burrowes

December 14, 2009 1:00

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.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.

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1 COMMENTS

Sharon 14 Dec 09

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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