Unsafe levels of lead found in fast fashion children’s clothes — and the habit that puts your kid at risk

Fast fashion may be affordable, but it can come with hidden health risks for kids.

A go-to option for dressing rapidly growing kids at a low cost, fast-fashion lines have been known to fill up landfills with non-biodegradable fabrics containing toxic chemicals.

Preliminary research being presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society reported that some fabric used in clothing from discount retailers and fast-fashion brands exceeds lead limits, with one particular children’s habit worsening the problem.

While several children’s clothing lines have been recalled due to excessive lead in zippers and buttons, some manufacturers use lead(II) acetate as an inexpensive method to help dyes adhere to materials and produce bright, long-lasting color.

Testing for lead levels found that 11 shirts in various colors from four retailers exceeded the US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s allowed limit of 100 parts per million, with brighter colors like red and yellow having higher amounts.

The research team ran a second experiment simulating stomach digestion to look at potential lead exposure and absorption from sucking, chewing or swallowing fabric.

The findings suggested that even briefly chewing the clothing would exceed the FDA’s daily lead intake limit for kids.

Frequent sucking or chewing over time could increase a child’s levels to the point where clinical monitoring would be recommended.

Lead exposure is harmful at any level and has been linked to behavioral problems, damage to the brain and other long-term health issues.

Children younger than 6 are considered most at risk of exposure due to their tendencies to put objects such as toys and dirt in their mouths, making them more likely to ingest lead dust, according to the CDC.

“Textile manufacturing varies widely by batch, material composition, dye formulation and processing conditions,” project lead Kamila Deavers told Newsweek. “The variability observed suggests that lead presence is multifactorial, rather than driven by a single characteristic.”

The research team will study more shirts to see if there’s a relationship between fabric lead levels and absorption by children.

They’ll also be looking into how washing clothing affects lead(II) acetate, including whether contaminated clothing could transfer the chemical to other garments and how different detergents interact with it.

The research team hopes their results will bring more thorough screening of children’s apparel and safer alternatives for the dyeing process.

However, regulations on lead levels in clothing are hard to enforce due to the high volume of imported goods.

“If you want to change the clothing industry’s technology, that will cost a lot of money,” Deavers said in a statement. “Without consumer or policy pressure on textile manufacturers to explore safer dyeing methods, there’s little incentive to switch.”