Children’s & novelty goods · Colorado
The first decision on a children’s product is not what it looks like. It is who it is for — and that answer decides everything downstream.
Age grading sets the test plan, the packaging warnings, and sometimes whether the product can be made as drawn at all. We start there, before anyone quotes a price.
Why grading comes first
A product graded for under three has to pass small-parts testing. The same product graded for three-plus does not. That single line in a specification changes the tooling, the packaging, the cost, and the schedule.
Which is exactly why it gets fudged. Grading a product up to avoid a test is the most common way importers of children’s goods end up with a problem they cannot fix cheaply — because artwork and shelf placement are both evidence of intent, and a grade on a spec sheet does not override what the packaging obviously says.
The grading bands
Small parts, sharp points and edges, lead and phthalate content, tracking label
The strictest band. A part that fits entirely inside the small-parts cylinder fails outright — no amount of warning label makes it acceptable for this age.
Lead and phthalate content, mechanical hazards, tracking label
Small parts become permissible, but only if the grading is honest. Grading a product up to avoid a test is the single most common way importers get into trouble.
Lead content, mechanical hazards appropriate to use, tracking label
Requirements ease, but children’s product rules still apply in full. This is not an adult product simply because older children use it.
Category-specific requirements only
Only if the product is genuinely not designed or marketed for children. Packaging artwork and shelf placement are both evidence of intent — a claim of general use is not something you can assert your way into.
Requirements summarised for orientation, not as legal advice. Testing is performed by CPSC-accepted third-party laboratories and the certificate comes from them.
What we develop
Baby and toddler hard goods
Feeding, bathing, and everyday items for the under-three band. Highest compliance burden of anything we handle, and the category where a specification change late in development costs the most.
Children’s everyday items
Non-toy items used by children — bags, drinkware, room organisation. Still children’s products under US rules, which surprises importers more often than it should.
Novelty and gifting
Character-led and seasonal items for general use. Where artwork or placement suggests a child audience, we grade it as a children’s product and test accordingly rather than argue about it.
Private label programmes
Retailer-owned brands where the specification, artwork, and packaging are yours. We handle development and supply; the brand, the artwork rights, and the customer relationship stay with you.
Where we stop
We coordinate testing; we do not perform it and we do not issue certificates. Those come from CPSC-accepted third-party laboratories, and that separation is the entire point of the accreditation system.
We also do not own the brand. On private label programmes the specification, artwork rights, and customer relationship stay with you — including if you stop working with us.