In 1953, the Flammable Fabrics Act was passed to “regulate the manufacture of highly flammable clothing, such as brushed rayon sweaters and children’s cowboy chaps,” the CPSC states nonchalantly. Sorry, what was that about chaps? From 1942 to 1952, the popular—and highly flammable—Gene Autry cowboy suit was the culprit in an alarming number of accidents in which children were killed or severely burned.
Since the CPSC was created, in 1972, it has enforced the Flammable Fabrics Act, meaning it can impose mandatory flammability standards on various products like mattresses, carpets, and clothing. In 1975, the CPSC published its federal flammability standards for children’s sleepwear.
The CPSC’s standards were implemented in response to reports of children accidentally igniting themselves with matches, space heaters, candles, or the like. “These incidents occurred at times when children were wearing pajamas—at night and in the early mornings, normally unsupervised,” the CPSC explains. In turn, manufacturers began treating kids pajamas with flame-retardant chemicals or making them out of flame-resistant material, such as polyester.
The new standards worked, according to a 1990 article in The New York Times: “While there were 60 deaths from clothing fires among children under the age of 15 in 1970, there were only two similar fatalities in 1987, according to Federal statistics.”
