Foreign markets, particularly in First World countries, typically have very stringent safety, quality or manufacturing standards, or certain stipulations that your product may have to adhere to. These can differ from one country to the next, as Nelia Schutte, founder of the Keedo Kids’ clothing range discovered.
“When you’re exporting all items are classified under tariff codes of headings, and all the countries have different names for things. For example, what we call pyjamas will be loungewear in the US and sleepwear in the UK. An in the United States, the garment labels need to be very specific. They have to stipulate exactly what the fabric content is and detail all the washing instructions in a very particular way. They’re very strict on it,” she says.
Bumbo experienced even stricter regulations, which is unsurprising given that they manufacture a product aimed at babies. The product had to be approved by the relevant authority governing children’s devices in each country.
Bumbo is manufactured in accordance with ISO 9001: 2000 specifications. It’s a good idea to seek out and adhere to whatever such international standards are relevant to your product, but this doesn’t mean you won’t still have to comply with other standards, specifications and regulations.