Life is good Inc. reaches $50K settlement in drawstring hazard case

May 6, 2008 04:30 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Globe Staff

Boston apparel maker Life is good Inc. has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle claims that it distributed children's sweatshirts with drawstrings that could be hazardous and failed to notify government regulators about it.

The agreement with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, under which the company does not admit any fault in the case, was reached last month. The federal agency is accepting comments on the settlement until May 14.

Life is good is known for its upbeat name and the smiling face named "Jake" on its original line of T-shirts.

But the agency said the distribution of the children's sweatshirts in 2006 and 2007 had created a "strangulation hazard to children."

CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson said the agency considers the drawstrings a hazard. And, because of that, Life is good was required to report the problem immediately.

The company, whose official response was included in the settlement, denied that it knew the products posed a risk and denied that it had knowingly violated the federal Consumer Product Safety Act.

Company spokesman Jim Laughlin said the company, in one instance, had told its manufacturer not to put drawstrings on the product, but it did so anyway. “We caught it early and moved fast and alerted all of our retailers in virtually all cases before they even received the shipped items,” he said. All but five of the items were recalled.

In another instance, the company produced a customized product for an online retailer, then assisted that company with the recall, Laughlin said.

No problems were reported with any of the sweatshirts, he said.

The drawstrings have caused injuries and even death when they have gotten tangled on such items as playground equipment, bus doors, and cribs, regulators said.

Wolfson said Life is good was one of eight companies that reached a $322,000 settlement with the agency.

"The apparel industry needs to get in compliance across the board with these guidelines. ... The impact of not complying with it can be deadly," he said.