I’m trying to gather information on whether felt material used in toys are safe or unsafe, or does anybody have any incidents that involved felt, such as choking or suffocation or near misses. I’ve seen felt fabric about 2 to 3 mm thickness commonly used in toys, but I’m more concerned about felt thicker than let’s say 3 mm. I’d like to hear your thoughts and concerns.
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Our three year old has many felt toys, such as felt boards which felt shapes can be stuck to create pictures. We have only let him play with these after the ‘got to put everything in his mouth’ stage of development. We still supervive his play with these as we would expect that they would be a choke/gag hazard, especially some of the removable felt shapes.
Having accidently put felt in my own mouth, its texture is not all that enjoyable and was a rather unpleasant experience…imagine eating house dusts would have similiar effect.
I have also noticed that many toys now have labels indicating that felt/other fabrics are virgin/new and not from recycled naterials (or similar wording). Assume this might be a requirement of other countries or a marketing ploy.
Thanks for your comment. It would help in the work we do in improving the standards for safety of toys.
My concern has been the dyes used in the felts. Many that my family have used are not “fast” and the colour when wet stains nearby fabric and colours other items in the wash. I think that 1) colour fastness needs to be checked & 2) determine if the dyes are human safe. Just my 2 cents worth some taste quite metallic.
Just a bit more what levels of Formaldehyde are present as many are manufactured in China (garnered from the labels) and it has been known that high levels of the substance can be used to improve the appearance of the fabric.
