Children's swimsuits are a popular choice for parents during the summer months. However, these garments often come with a set of common problems that can cause frustration for both children and their parents. One of the most prevalent issues with children's swimsuits is their lack of durability. Many swimsuits are made from cheap materials that easily tear or fade after just a few uses. This can be especially frustrating for parents who have spent a significant amount of money on these items, only to have them fall apart so quickly. Another problem is the lack of proper sizing options. Children come in all shapes and sizes, and finding a swimsuit that fits properly can be challenging. Some suits may be too tight around the waist or too loose in the shoulders, causing discomfort and potential wardrobe malfunctions. It is essential for manufacturers to address these issues to provide parents with reliable and functional swimwear options for their little ones.
 
Recently, the Hangzhou Consumer Protection Commission conducted a comparative test on children's swimsuits sold in the Hangzhou market and some online merchant platforms. The results showed that the failure rate was as high as 81.8%, including many well-known swimsuits. In 2014, the Shanghai Quality Supervision Bureau issued a quality and risk warning for children's swimwear, showing that there is a safety issue for 17 of the 21 batches of children’s swimsuits. What are the common quality problems in children's swimsuits? What are the difficulties or precautions in the testing of children's swimsuits? What requirements should good-quality children's swimsuits meet? A testing expert and senior engineer explained the quality and testing of children's swimsuits.
 
1. What are the basis for testing children’s swimsuits? Which standard is generally used in China? What are the key quality indicators in the quality assessment of children’s swimsuits?
Children's swimwear and adult swimwear generally follow the FZ/T 73013 "Knitted Swimwear" or FZ/T 81021-2014 "Woven Swimwear" standards based on the fabric weaving process. Most of swimwear on the market is knitted swimwear, so children's swimwear products on the market are often marked with FZ/T 73013-2010 "Knitted Swimwear" or FZ/T 73013-2017 "Knitted Swimwear" implementation standards based on the production time. At the same time, children's swimsuits must also comply with the regulations of GB 31701-2015 "Safety Technical Specifications for Textile Products for Infants and Children".
 
The key indicators in the quality assessment of children's swimsuits include the following:
Safety quality indicators: requirements for water resistance, sweat resistance, color fastness to rubbing, formaldehyde content, pH value, decomposable carcinogenic aromatic amine dyes, odor, and straps.
Indicators reflecting the performance of swimsuits: seawater color fastness, chlorinated water (swimming pool water) color fastness, light color fastness and tensile elastic elongation and chlorinated water (swimming pool water) tensile elastic recovery rates.
 
2. What are the common problems for children's swimsuits based on your experience? What are the reasons for these problems?
Common problems with substandard quality of children's swimwear include requirements for wearing safety of straps and stretch elastic elongation for wearing comfort. The reason for the above problems is that children's swimsuit manufacturers are not aware that the use of certain straps in swimsuits poses safety risks to children, or do not have a thorough understanding of the relevant standards for straps in children's clothing. The quality of the fabric's tensile elastic elongation is not up to standard mainly because the company does not strictly control product quality and is unclear about the performance indicators of swimwear. It does not rule out that the company has a fluke mind and believes that the probability of being randomly inspected is small and the swimsuit has not been professionally inspected.
 
3. What are the difficulties or key points in testing children’s swimsuits? Can you make relevant suggestions?
The key point of children's swimsuit testing is to first select the right standard. Children's swimsuits must not only meet the requirements of swimsuit standards such as FZ/T 73013 "Knitted Swimwear" or FZ/T 81021-2014 "Woven Swimwear", but also meet requirements of the national mandatory standard GB 31701-2015 "Technical Safety Specifications for Textile Products for Infants and Children"; companies often neglect GB 31701-2015 "Technical Specifications for Safety of Textile Products for Infants and Children" and safety technology category. The size of children's swimsuits is generally relatively small. If they are not one piece, it will be difficult to test the tensile elastic elongation, resistance to chlorinated water (swimming pool water), and tensile elastic recovery rates. Therefore, try to provide raw materials for children's swimsuits for testing to avoid missing items due to insufficient sample size.
 
4. Compared with adult swimsuits, what aspects should be paid attention to in the production and design of children's swimsuits? For manufacturers, what aspects should be paid attention to to avoid the above quality problems and thereby improve product quality?
The production and design of children's swimsuits should focus on the safety of the position and sizes for safe wearing. Try to choose large cloth to improve children's comfort and sun protection. Select raw materials with good stretch elasticity and good dye fastness, breathability, chemically safe and environmentally friendly fabrics.
 
For manufacturing enterprises, when designing children’s swimwear, special attention should be paid to the fact that the head and neck, shoulders, back and waist straps of swimwear should comply with the provisions of GB 31701-2015 "Safety Technical Specifications for Textile Products for Infants and Children"; spliced swimwear should be avoided as less as possible. Split type swimwear should be adopted. Reduce or avoid bikini-type adult styles; the fabric should be made of nylon or polyester fiber with high-quality spandex, and the spandex content is preferably 18% to 20%, with lining. The inner fabric can be made of pure cotton to reduce irritation to the skin. The crotch of the swimsuit should have a lining to increase wearing comfort. Before manufacturing, chemical and physical properties of the fabric must be tested according to national standards. If the fabrics pass the test, the swimwear can be produced.

5. What are other problems existing in children's swimwear?
Many children's swimsuits lack adequate sun protection. With the harmful effects of UV rays becoming more widely known, it is crucial to ensure that children are adequately protected while enjoying water activities. Unfortunately, many swimsuits do not offer sufficient coverage or UV protection, leaving children vulnerable to sunburns and other skin damage.