Blair expands recall of flammable chenille garments

The original recall, issued in April of this year, covered 162,000 chenille robes sold by Blair and made by A-One Textile & Towel of Karachi, Pakistan. The Warren, Pa.-based retailer voluntarily announced the recall after it received three reports of robes catching fire, with one incident producing second-degree burns.

Since the announcement, Blair received additional reports in which several deaths were attributed to the robes catching on fire. This led Blair and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to reissue the recall announcement in June, stressing the fire hazard. Since then, an additional four deaths have been reported, all involving women over 70 who were wearing the robes.

In response to a report of an additional death involving another chenille garment from A-One, Blair decided to expand the recall to all chenille clothing manufactured by the company.

The affected products include:

• full-length women's chenille robes
• women's chenille jackets
• women's chenille lounge jackets
• women's chenille tops

An additional 138,000 garments are covered by the expanded recall. The clothes were sold on Blair.com and at the company's retail stores in Warren, Pa., Grove City, Pa., and Wilmington, Del., from July 2000 to April 2007.

More information on the recall is available at the Blair Web site. or the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Written by Sandy Smith