Monday, December 1, 2008

Pictures speaks Volumes: Other Babies hurt by Carters tagless clothes

Carters continues to stand by their position that babies' reactions to their tagless clothing is "rare" and "isolated" thus not warranting a company recall of their merchandise. However, these pictures speak a thousand words and break our hearts.

Carters, isn't ONE baby's injury enough to start this recall? We have received numerous emails from parents nationwide as well as other countries sharing their own horrible experience with their babies wearing these Carters tagless clothes. Enough is enough! Recall this merchandise and save other families and their babies from enduring this preventable injury.



































Friday, November 14, 2008

Carters Should Examine Ava's Case

Carters often references their safety investigation of their tagless labels. I am curious though, why haven't they ever contacted us about Ava's case? It seems logical that their investigation would benefit from the data of a case such as Ava's. Carters investigative team has never asked us about Ava. We would be happy to share the data. Carters would see that Ava was diagnosed with a chemical burn from a medical expert. They would see that Ava chronically suffered. Who knows, they might even find an answer to this hazard by looking at her case. We are not part of the lawsuit, we only want answers and we only want full disclosure and appropriate actions.

We made the effort of writing the Executive staff of Carters and only received responses to placate our frustration, not a response of action. The CEO interview in ZRecs just further exasperates us for these reasons: They are sticking to boilerplate responses, falling back on statistical quality thresholds based on fallable data, and they continue to ignore the fact that babies are suffering from their products.

We will continue our quest to compel Carters to do the right thing.

Carters CEO speaks with ZRecs

ZRecs interviewed Carters CEO, Michael Casey:

http://www.zrecommends.com/detail/carters-on-the-record-an-interview-with-michael-casey-carters-ceo/

Being on the record, Casey surprisingly provides more information and color into what went into the creation of these tagless labels and their corporate stance on the whole situation.

We do take issue and differ with the terminology Casey tries to clarify with ZRecs. We stand by our position and our pediatrician's diagnosis that Ava did in fact suffer a CHEMICAL BURN, not contact dermatitis. Our pediatrician, a well-known Doctor and child safety expert, as well as his experienced colleagues all diagnosed Ava had in fact suffered a chemical burn from these tagless clothes. Additionally, Zrecs asks Casey why Carters won't recall the clothes and Casey's response, "[t]he level of inquiries on this... even now, has not been significant in terms of its relation to the total number of our garments. It is some fraction of 1% of the garments from the Fall 07 line." So I guess 1% of inquires or the injured babies is not enough to warrant a recall...wow, enlightening to know that this "trusted" company of children's clothing does not think it's serious enough to begin a formal recall. Truly disappointing, but not surprising to hear their corporate position on this matter and very sad for any baby and family that has been affected by Carters tagless clothes. We'll be waiting for more updates on the nationwide class action....

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

NBC Story Follow up: Families Affected by Carters Tagless Clothes

We were interviewed by NBC as were other families whose babies had been affected by wearing these Carters tagless clothes. Here are the videos:

Class Action Lawsuit (click on Ava's picture on the left to see the video):
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Talk-of-lawsuit-over-baby-Clothes.html

Viewers' Responses to the NBC Investigative Stories on Carters tagless clothes (click on the picture with "restitution" highlighted):
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Carters-tagless-clothing-investigation-reaction.html

We are so relieved this story and all of our experiences are finally getting the coverage it requires. Carters, we hope you are watching; these were once your consumers whose trust you had, but whose babies you have injured. We look forward to the days and months to come as Lindsey Webb, the CA class action plaintiff, the other parent-plaintiffs nationwide and their legal team push their class action ahead...how will Carters respond? Can they really continue to keep their heads in the sand and stand by their corporate position that a recall is not necessary?

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Class Action Against Carters Begins...

Carters must now respond through the legal system. The class plaintiff in CA, Lindsey Webb, and her attorneys from Emerson Poynter, Whatley Drake & Kallas, Thomas Butler and Robert Jigarjian filed this Class Action Complaint on November 6, 2008. We are pleased with the complaint's allegations and requested relief for plaintiffs. Please read on.

I will get a copy of the complaint uploaded soon, but some of the highlights are below. If you would like a copy emailed to you, please email me at: avastaglesshorrorwithcarters@gmail.com

The Complaint cites some factual background with published reports from research groups on the unique qualites of babies which we found surprising and extremely informative:
"Children are more susceptible to chemical toxicity than adults" and "infants have a relatively greater surface area of skin than adults, thereby increasing their potential dermal absorption of certain compounds." "This higher rate of intake means that children will receive higher doses of whatever contaminants are present..."

"The thin skin of a newborn may well be more permeable to specific chemicals than the skin of an adult. Compounding this fact, the surface area of a child's skin relative to body weight is greater than adults, such that the potential dose of a chemical following dermal exposure is likely to be about 3 times greater than infants than adults."

The complaint's alleges these legal theories (details of each in the complaint):
  1. Strict products liability - Defect in design or manufacture
  2. Strict products liability - Failure to Warn
  3. Misleading & Deceptive Advertising
  4. Untrue Advertising
  5. Unlawful Business Acts & Practices
  6. Unfair Business Acts & Practices
  7. Fraudulent Business Acts & Practices
  8. Breach of Express & Implied Warranties
  9. Intentional Misrepresentation / Fraud
  10. Negligent Misrepresentation
  11. Unjust Enrichment
  12. Negligence & Negligence Per Se
  13. Suppression
  14. Violation of Magnuson-Moss Act
  15. Injunctive & Declaratory Relief
They are demanding a jury trial. Finally, some of the relief they are requesting is a certification of the class of plaintiffs, judgment to "restore, by way of restitution, refund, or reimbursement, to any person in interest any money paid to and/or acquired by Carters" and "an Order directing Carters to immediately take all reasonable steps to ensure the defective clothing is removed from the stream of commerce...."

Thank you to this plaintiff and her team for taking this legal stance and demanding Carters finally do the "right thing" for everyone involved.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

You Are Not Alone, Share Your Stories and Pictures

Many parents nationwide have sadly sent me photos depicting their babies' back wounds from wearing Carters tagless clothes (as well as other well-known brands). Their stories echo the same nightmare experience we had: numerous Dr's visits trying to diagnose and help their babies, many sleepless and stress days and nights soothing their child and trying desperately to find out what caused this back wound, discovering the internet information and watching the media stories and wondering why there hasn't been a recall. One commentator has created this blog to share our stories and our babies' photos. I urge everyone to share their experience and offer up pictures of their babies' wounds (pictures in this case speak volumes where our children could not):

http://cartertstaglessnightmares.blogspot.com/

We appreciate everyone's support and collectively, we hope all of us can bring more media attention and public awareness to the hazards of these tagless clothes. Where the media stories and our demand for a formal recall remain ignored, some parents are seeking redress through legal resources. Perhaps that is what is necessary for Carters to own up and stand behind their corporate promise to "make trusted" clothes for our kids. At this point, our trust is irrevocably shattered.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Inundated With More Horror Stories & Baby Pictures

We have been flooded with emails (some including graphic photos of babies' back wounds) from other victims of Carters tagless. We are now more furious than ever. Has Carters really lucked out? All the news coverage quotes their advisory, just 400 victims, only limited to the Fall 2007 line. How can Carters get away with this? Maybe only 400 complaints have been filed, but who would know to file a complaint? How many mothers have the time to file a complaint, especially while dealing with a child who has a chronic and painful injury. If there are 400 official complaints, there must be thousands or tens of thousands of victims who have not yet officially reported their babies' wounds. Also, Ava's Carters clothes were not just limited to the Fall 2007 line and her injury persisted while wearing

Just today, a victim told us she asked a Carters store manager if she knew about the tagless safety issue and yesterday's advisory and statements from CPSC and Carters. The manager of Carters retail store had no idea! Carters: you have a duty to effectively communicate to your distributors and especially your own stores. You can not stop with this advisory. Communicate effectively and comprehensively, be compassionate and fair with your victims, and recall your products.

Dialogue Across The Blogs

Since the CPSC and Carters issued public statements yesterday, other sites have continued to provide their own invaluable research and insight. We hope you will read them and share them with everyone:

ZRecommends:
http://www.zrecommends.com/detail/cpsc-releases-rash-advisory-for-carters-tagless-apparel/

Science for Sale:
http://www.scienceforsale.com/2008/10/cpsc-issues-advisory-on-carters-tagless.html
http://www.scienceforsale.com/2008/10/ava-and-carters-part-ii.html

As consumers and parents, these public statements and advisory did nothing to placate us. We believe our baby, like many others, was affected beyond just the Carters tagless Fall 2007 product line. We were initially told by Carters Consumer Affairs representative that there are "no chemicals" in these tagless clothes. Give us a break! Our baby suffered a chemical burn, which was confirmed by her pediatrician. Carters, it's time for the reality check: begin the Recall.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Legal Resources

The Official Warning is here....

Alas, we finally have U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Carters recognizing this nationwide problem with Carters tagless clothing. Please read these links:

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09023.html


Carters Statement:
http://www.carters.com/Corporate/tagless_message.aspx

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Letter From Carters CEO, Michael Casey

Today a letter arrived at our home via Federal Express from Carters’ CEO, Michael Casey. It was handwritten and on the Carters’ CEO letterhead. Here is the content of the note:

10-23-08

Dear Mr. (our last name),

I received your email yesterday. I am very sorry to hear that your daughter developed a rash while wearing a Carter’s garment.

As a father of six children, I care deeply about the safety & health of children.

I want to assure you that we are thoroughly investing (sic) the cause of the rash.

I am committed to regaining your trust in our products. I hope you’ll give us that opportunity.

Sincerely,

/ s /
Mike Casey

This letter was sent via FedEx, and the footnote on the letterhead reads:

Michael C. Casey Chief Executive Officer

1170 Peachtree Street, Suite 900, Atlanta, Georgia 30309

Telephone 404-745-2802 Fax 404-892-3079

Email mike.casey@carters.com NYSE Listed: CRI


Here is my response, sent via email tonight:

Dear Mr. Casey,

Thank you for your letter. First, our baby Ava did not develop a rash. She was chemically burned by the Carters clothes she wore. Our pediatrician confirmed she suffered a chemical burn and not a rash. Secondly, a Carters tagless product recall and public disclosure is the only solution, which you failed to address in your letter. You are a father of six children, how many more families and babies are you willing to sacrifice?

Lastly, you cannot regain our or the public’s trust in your Carters brand until you act appropriately. We will not stop our relentless pursuit to publicize this issue until you and Carters take immediate and appropriate actions. Your products injured our baby and many others. The statistical rate of reported injuries should be an irrelevant factor in you and your company’s decision to disclose this hazard and recall your product. Do the right thing.

Sincerely,

/ s /

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Public Statement...Corporate Secrets?

Last week, Carters consumer affairs assured us there would be a statement on their website addressing their tagless clothing safety issue. This person was elusive and uncomfortable when we pushed the issue, but assured us it would be addressed publicly.

Naively we misread her awkwardness and assumed Carters wanted to address this issue after they publicly announced their earnings. Today Carters publicly announced their earnings…guess what? Carters did NOT publicly address the product safety concern of their tagless clothing and did NOT update their website with any related information. Why the corporate secret, Carters? Why not take today’s opportunity to provide this important information to your consumers and shareholders?

Alas, we have exhausted the reserves of giving Carters the benefit of the doubt to do the “right thing.” We are back to where we started: with our baby who suffered five months from chemical burns caused by Carters tagless clothes and without any ongoing dialog with Carters on how they plan to fix this problem for all consumers. Carters did not respond to my note to their Executive Staff. We have not heard anything from them. How does this company decide not to respond to a consumer plea regarding a child safety issue? It is inexplicable. Does anyone have a theory?

Monday, October 20, 2008

No Response From Carters

We did not hear from Carters today. The email that is posted on this blog was sent to their entire executive team on Saturday, including their investor relations VP. The investor relations VP's email is on their website so we know he received the email. This means they are officially ignoring our issue proving they do not care about their Carters Tagless products hazard.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

The Tipping Point...

Thanks to this Mommy Blogger for providing insight into our daughter's back wound. Everyone should read her informative blog:

http://www.scienceforsale.com/2008/10/carters-tagless-burns-updates.html

We cannot believe how long Carters has allowed this to go on without any public disclosures. Carters is literally making money off the backs of our babies. You're corrrect, Fellow Mom-Blogger, there is a "tipping point" and we are seriously considering ALL of our options at this point. Carters has been derelict in telling their consumers the truth.

We'll see how they respond to our letter, if at all.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Letter to Carters Executives

We sent this letter to the Carters Executives, we will keep you up to date on their response:

To: Michael Casey, Chief Executive Officer
Re: Carters Tagless Clothes Causing Chemical Burns in Babies

CC: Joseph Pacifico, President; James Petty, President Retail Stores; Charles Whetzel, Executive Vice President and Chief Sourcing Officer; David Brown, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer; Suzanne Calkins, Executive Vice President OshKosh Brand and Licensing; Joe Elles, Executive Vice President Sales and Mass Merchandising; Eric Martin, Vice President Investor Relations

Dear Mr. Casey,

I am writing you as a final, desperate attempt to escalate a material issue to someone with authority at Carters. Let me first explain the issue and then I will appeal to your authority to resolve our problem and to publicly disclose the product safety hazard with your tagless product line.

Our daughter, Ava, is now six and a half months old. Since Ava was six weeks old, she has been suffering a chronic back injury caused by wearing Carters tagless products. Her injury was a severe chemical burn, which formed at the epicenter of where her skin made contact with Carters tagless labels. The injury caused severe inflammation and swelling, in Ava’s case, it was the size of a half pear. The burn was bright red throughout and weeps of mucus and puss. Ava has endured this excruciating pain of a fire red, weeping burn on her back for about five months.

When we first saw this burn, we thought it was an unusually nasty rash. We treated it topically with ointments, it did not go away. We eliminated detergents, changed beddings, and when our pediatrician thought it might be a chemical reaction to her infant carrier, we bought a new one--all to no avail. Then one day, the burn got worse and Ava was clearly in unbearable pain. We immediately took her to the pediatrician. The doctors in the practice saw Ava’s wound and agreed she should immediately be admitted to the children’s hospital emergency. Ava caught a staph infection from her open wound. As you may know, staph can be life threatening, especially to an infant; Ava was barely 3 months. She had to be in a strict sterile environment (medical masks, gloves and gowns were required by all who entered who room) and we waited for IV Antibiotics to mitigate further health risks. Ava and my wife were in the hospital overnight. We were alarmed by doctors who all claimed the issue to be very severe but none of whom could diagnose it. We were all horrified and traumatized by this, wondering if our daughter would recover. Ava was on antibiotics for at least a month, the burn subsided but never healed and continued to painfully affect her.

In our ongoing efforts to help Ava recover and monitor her wound, we cut out the upper backs of some of her clothes to apply her prescribed creams and to let the affected area air dry more efficiently. The burn would begin to heal and after a few days we would put Ava back into her uncut clothes. Immediately, the burn reappeared. We repeated this cycle many times, still unaware this wound was being caused by her Carters tagless clothing. Ava went to the emergency children’s hospital again. We continued our efforts to treat the burn, nothing worked.

Last month we read an internet blog written by other victims of Carters tagless clothes and everything became clear to us. We read their stories and saw their pictures--all were remarkably similar to our experience and Ava’s condition.

We had Ava in your tagless clothes all along. The irony is we always used your tagless clothes because we thought there might a chance physical tags would compound Ava’s condition. She has been in Carters clothes, gets the original burn, stays in your clothes and the burn gets worse, heals when we cut out your tagless marks, then the burn reappears immediately after we put her back in Carters uncut tagless products. We continued this cycle until last month’s discovery because we had no idea Carters tagless clothing was causing her wound.

We shared our internet discovery with our pediatrician. Our pediatrician confirms the injury as a chemical burn and is filing a report with the Consumer Products Safety Commission. He has also notified the pediatric community of San Francisco and UCSF hospital.

We contacted Carters to see if you had any information beyond the statement published by the ZRecommends blog. We talked with Sue in Consumer Affairs who had nothing new to offer. Sue offered us a product refund. We were sloughed off to Travelers to file a claim. Travelers did not know anything about Ava’s injury and offered their claims process as a resolution; hand over all medical records and receipts, subject ourselves to the mercy of Travelers claims processing, and hope for a resolution many months from now. We then talked to Mary, Manager of Consumer Affairs, who tried to console us. Mary either does not have the authority or is prohibited by policy from actually helping your victims. All in all, we made great efforts and in good faith have tried to resolve this with your company.

Your company’s response and attitude is miserable. I am furious. Your product injured my baby. My baby suffered severely for many months and in fact faced a life threatening complication. I am certain that you would not like a severe burn on your back for five months, along with many hospital and doctor visits, many treatments, and helpless doctors. Additionally, if this happened to one of your loved ones, you too would be furious if you discovered the injury was caused by your defective merchandise. To top it off, your company is not recognizing the issue beyond a content-free statement posted on a blog. Nowhere in your public website does it offer a statement assisting or warning the consumer on the hazards of your tagless baby clothes. You are ignoring the gravity of this problem and mistreating your victims. Your service policies are abhorrent. Your safety people are probably telling you that Carters does not have a problem or statistically a case like ours is “isolated” and “rare” (using the words we have heard from Carters). Read the internet and you will see that your internal product safety people are possibly very wrong.

If I were you, I would not take the risk of this problem staying statistically isolated. And, independent of the actual number of cases versus the number of tagless clothes you have sold, our case matters and the cases of all the other victims matter. Yet, you don’t seem to think so. You are unwilling to publicly discuss the risks of your clothes. What happened to standing by your website’s statement of Carters making “trusted products” when Carters cannot be trusted to inform their consumers of their defective merchandise? You are unable to diagnose the problem which means Carters has not prioritized the research of this safety issue. The lack of disclosure is causing serious harm to babies as consumers are uniformed and pediatricians do not know how to diagnose and cure the injuries caused by your clothes. You have not told your distributors as they surely would not sell clothes that cause chemical burns. You have not told your consumers, leaving the burden on them to discover the answers. Your company’s actions have been atrocious and immoral.

I will be relentless in my pursuit to publicize this safety issue and Carters immoral response. I am blogging now, I am writing every consumer safety organization I can find, I am writing every investigative news organization I can find, I will write your largest public shareholders and distributors, and I will pursue every possible legal way to expose this issue. I will not stop until you act appropriately.

I am hoping you will make a statement on Tuesday, after you announce earnings and as soon as you are out of your quiet period. I would like to see an honest and transparent statement on this public safety issue, immediate disclosure to the pediatric community, shareholder disclosure, and a press release that is picked up by publications your consumers read, a recall of your product, a hotline for all victims, and a compassionate and easy process that your victims can follow for refunds and medical treatment reimbursement.

If not, I will continue my vigilant pursuit.

Hoping you actually do care about your consumers,
/s/

Carters Consumer Affairs Discussion

We connected with Carters again and remain unsatisfied. Mary, the Manager of Carters Consumer Affairs, called us yesterday to update us. She said she spoke to the Director of Consumer of Affairs (her boss) and the Director of their Quality Control Dept (not sure of the exact title).

However, there will be No Recall, no satisfactory resolution, but here is what Mary states is being proposed at least for Carters Consumer Affairs Dept.

1. Mary had a group meeting with all of Carters Consumer Affairs Representatives and all agreed to “welcome” victims and to be more compassionate

2. Make sure staffing levels are sufficient to promptly return calls within 24 hours

3. Working with the phone company and their internal IT department to create a dedicated 800 number hotline for tagless clothing victims

4. Improve reimbursement process and promptly pay reimbursement checks

5. Redesigned insurance claims process

6. Website page dedicated to this tagless clothes problem

We remain unsatisfied because there is no promise of a recall or informing the public of the hazards for children wearing their tagless clothes. We are planning to write a letter to their CEO and Executive Staff and will post it once it's completed.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Yet another victim of Carters tagless clothes

Here again, is another Carters tagless clothing victim. You see, the same exact back wound as Ava's. See this link: http://consumerist.com/5046160/carters-tagless-baby-clothes-causing-rashes

Carters - now is the time to finally recogize this problem. This is not an "isolated" or "rare" incident as your scripted response alleges and as you have told us numerous times.


Carters, perhaps you should consider the ethical approach, such as:

- start with apologizing, a mea culpa will mean a lot to your victims
- disclose the problem to the pediatric community, your distributors, and your consumers
- create a welcome wagon for your victims, treat them compassionately and fairly, be their advocates instead of making them advocate for themselves (haven't parents and babies endured enough?)
- promptly refund the full retail value of the defective clothes purchased by your victims
- recall all your defective products immediately
- update your website
- stop the internal product safety denial and fix the problem
- basically, do the morally correct thing

"Our Hands Are Tied!"

Carters told us last week that they would have their insurance company contact us to discuss reimbursing our medical bills. Today, we talked to their insurance company and to their consumer affairs group, no one over there seems to really care. Here are the comments we continue to hear from Carters and their insurance company:
"Our hands are tied"
"I don't have the authority"
"Our CEO is aware of the problem"
"We don't have any answers for you"
"We are researching the problem"
"You need to understand"
"You can work with me or have an attorney work with me, it is the same job for me"
"Honestly, if I could do something for you, I would"
"I am a parent, I can not imagine what you went through"
"I understand, I understand, I understand" when it is obvious they don't understand.

Here are two links that helped us determine the cause of Ava's back wound:

http://thoughtsluiza.blogspot.com/
http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2008/09/tagless-tees-suddenly-causing-chemical.html

Last night we spoke to the producer of this NBC investigative piece on Carters tagless clothing, please view the piece to see another family victimized by Carters:
http://video.knbc.com/player/?id=716662

To help get the word out, please file a report with the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), here is a link to file a complaint online:
https://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/incident.aspx

Our Pediatrician confirms this was a chemical burn and not some other skin irritation or allergic reaction (rash or eczema). He is filing his own report with the CPSC.

I will keep everyone posted on Carters next response.

By the way, if you want to listen to Carters next quarterly earnings call (yes, they are a PUBLIC COMPANY), go to the link below next Tuesday:
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=135392&p=irol-IRHome