Posted on 06/12/2009 2:32:18 PM PDT by freespirited
Six people died after their full-length bathrobes caught fire, prompting the company that sold the robes to recall all 162,000 of the garment and issue this urgent message:
Take off your robe. Stat.
"CPSC and Blair once again urge consumers to stop wearing the garments immediately," the recall notice says.
Blair is offering $50 gift cards to customers who return the robes, sold from January 2003 through March 2009 from about $20 to $40.
Blair has received reports of six deaths due to the robes catching on fire.
Five of the six victims were female, and all five were cooking at the time of the incidents. Three of the victims were in their 80s.
The company wrote a letter to customers, urging them to return the robes.
"If you haven’t yet returned your robe to us, we urge you rethink your decision to keep it," the company wrote in a message to customers. "While we are pleased that you value your robe, we urge you in the strongest possible terms to discontinue using the robe immediately and return it to us."
In April 2009, the company recalled the robes after learning some fail to meet federal flammability requirements and present a risk of serious burns to customers if exposed to flames.
You can call the Blair Recall Hotline toll free at (877) 392-7095 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. EDT Monday through Saturday.
The Women’s Chenille Robes have the following item numbers: 3093111, 3093112, 3093113, 3093114, 3093115, and 3093116. The item number is identified on a label in the garment’s neckline. The robe is a one-piece garment made of plush sculpted chenille, a shaped stand collar, and horizontal chenille front and back yolks and cuffs. The robe has a full-button front with seven matching button closures, long sleeves with self cuffs, a straight bottom with self hem, and two sideseam pockets. The robe’s sewn in label states: “100% Cotton, RN 81700, Made in Pakistan.”
They must have been over their word limit.
Maybe they thought that being made in Pakistan was irrelevant to the story. It seems like almost everything you can buy in a store is manufactured overseas nowadays. So they probably thought that didn’t matter.
I can remember when cheap junk was made in Japan or made in Hong Kong. I remember when the “made in Japan” labels were a joke.
Did they catch on fire on their own, or were the wearers stupid enough to wear loose clothing near kitchen flames?
I remember years ago when there was a recall of women’s skirts made of rayon that seemed to burst into flames when newar a heat source. I think those were from India.
I find it hard to believe 100% cotton would be that flammable.
well, if obamaFuhrer has his way, all America will be working again. We’ll be the cheap labor!
Anyone stupid enough to stick their clothes into fire should be fried they are too stupid to exist.
Me too. I remember stamped metal toys that were painted on the outside and still had 'Hormel Ham' can paint on the inside.
“Barack Burned Badly By Blair Bathrobe” Beyond Belief? Unfortunately Yes, but I have HOPE!
No need to give the trolls more ammunition for their “FReepers are dangerous” “news stories.”
It's not clear from the reporting. My guess is that these women had gas stoves, and their robes caught fire when they got close to the flame.
Hopefully the company also makes a smoking Jacket because we could place a special double secret tax on those products and all be happy.
It is with such bliss that I remember saying to my beautiful wife, “take off your robe!”
Thanks for the memory!
who cooks wearing a bathrobe? get dressed for heaven’s sake! robes are notorious for loose sleeves which should not be worn near an open flame. i swear, the degree of laziness in this country has reached critical mass.
Probably would not have been so bad but she panics easily (at 82 she still does) and obviously I didn't know what to do. She was running around slapping at the flames and eventually thought about water, and headed for the tub. But the pipes to our remote Eastern KY cabin were frozen and there was no water. So really it burnt until the whole skirt burned out, with maybe some help from the confines of the tub.
Obviously modern flame retardant standards might have been a help in that situation (but I honestly don't know if they apply to anything other than nightwear and kids clothing). Not sure I'd make that a testimony in favor of government regulation on every nanny issue, but I believe there is some legitimate authority especially with regard to imports.
That's not the issue though. I have seen a lot of comfortable and attractive clothing that's made in Pakistan, and I think they are proud of what they make there. And it's a credit to Blair also that they are making a generous offer of replacement, certainly above and beyond what CPSC would require. A lot of so-called "corporate citizens" would not do that. Here it seems they want to protect their reputation for quality and are doing something reasonable and practical to make right a situation without being forced.
Nothing wrong with that.
Precisely. Something just doesnt add up here. I am wondering if some highly flammable chemical was used when the material was made.
Sure sounds like that to me. Cotton burns, but does not ignite particularly readily. Synthetics, on the other hand, can be nasty. And chemical treatments--who knows.
Here is something from the Wiki on chenille, describing a way the yarn is made durable:
One of the problems with chenille yarns is that the tufts can work loose and create bare fabric. This was resolved by using a low melt nylon in the core of the yarn and then autoclaving (steaming) the hanks of yarn to set the pile in place.
So there is an additive there, low melt nylon, which can wick to the outer fibers if machine dried at too high a temperature. At the same time, if there is a flame retardant, aggressive washing and drying will eventually render it out.
Flame does not occur until a combustible substance is heated to it's gaseous state. Imagine fluffy cotton tufts permeated with nylon which as a low melt formula, likely be more volatile than normal, and think of how flammable that might be.
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