September 3, 2008
Empress Arts is recalling about 130 children's sweaters with drawstrings.
Children can get entangled in the drawstrings that can catch on playground equipment, fences or tree branches.
In February 1996, CPSC issued guidelines (pdf) to help prevent children from strangling or getting entangled on the neck and waist drawstring in upper garments, such as jackets and sweatshirts. From 1985 through 2007, CPSC received reports of 27 deaths and 70 non-fatal incidents involving the entanglement of childrens clothing drawstrings.
The cotton knit sweaters are cream colored with a blue stripe at the wrists and waist, a blue ball on the hood, and blue buttons. There is a drawstring through the hood with pom-poms at the ends. The sweaters were sold in childrens size 2T under the brand name Empress Arts. Empress Baby is sewn into the sweaters tag.
The sweaters were sold at specialty childrens stores nationwide from August 2006 through April 2008 for between $28 and $45. They were made in China.
Consumers should immediately remove the drawstrings from the sweaters to eliminate the hazard.
The recall is being conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
