On June 24, at the High-quality Development Conference of the Trendy Toy Industry and the 2024 Trendy Toy Series Group Standard Conference held in Dongguan, the China Consumer Goods Quality and Safety Promotion Association (hereinafter referred to as the "China Consumer Council") released the "Group Standards for Trendy Toys and Their Derivatives Series", which has a total of 10 group standards, establishing a standard system for the domestic trendy toy industry, further standardizing and improving the quality of domestic trendy toys, and helping the industry go overseas.
The trendy toy group logo "Family Bucket" was launched
In order to further strengthen the role of "standards leading quality improvement" and promote the upgrading of industrial quality, Guangzhou Customs Technology Center, the secretariat of the Children's Products Working Committee of the China Consumers Association, and Beijing Bubble Mart Cultural and Creative Co., Ltd. jointly took the lead, and joined hands with Bandai Toys (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., Aofei Entertainment Co., Ltd., Beijing Lezi Tiancheng Cultural Development Co., Ltd., Shanghai Bruco Building Block Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Boguan Information Technology Co., Ltd. and related technical institutions to develop the draft after a year of industrial research and drafting, soliciting opinions, standard review and other rigorous standard development links, officially released on June 24.
It is reported that the group standards for the series of trendy toys and derivatives released this time are divided into two parts: revision and addition.
In 2022, the China Consumer Council issued the "Trend Dolls and Similar Products for Appreciation and Collection", the introduction of this standard has made the trendy toy industry move from disorderly expansion to standardized development, but with the rapid development of the industry, this epoch-making document for the trendy toy industry also needs to "evolve".
It is reported that compared with the old version, the revised "Trend Dolls and Similar Products for Appreciation and Collection" (T/CPQS C010-2024) has increased the restrictions on formaldehyde, decomposable aromatic amines and other chemical harmful substances of textile materials, as well as flammability requirements, and further strengthened the safety requirements of trendy toys. On the other hand, the new version cites the provisions of the Guidelines on the Code of Conduct for Blind Box Operations (Trial) issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation (for Trial Implementation) for trendy toys sold in the form of blind boxes, requiring blind box operators to publicize key information such as product name, product type, product style, extraction rules, product distribution, limited product quantity, extraction probability, and product value range in a conspicuous manner to ensure that consumers are aware before purchasing, and further promote blind box operators to strengthen compliance governance.
In addition, in recent years, trendy toy derivatives have been favored by consumers, and this time a series of new group standards have been added for 9 items, such as cards, badges, handheld fans, power banks, water cups, and aromatherapy.
According to reports, trendy toy derivative products refer to all kinds of trendy toy concept products for teenagers and adults over 14 years old for use by teenagers and adults over 14 years old based on the secondary creation or extension of the IP image of a trendy doll in an appreciation collection, including clothing, badges, accessories, electronic products, etc., as well as music, images, books and other cultural products. However, many derivatives in the market often only pay attention to "IP" and ignore product quality, and some products are cross-border products with "four dislikes", lacking standard control, resulting in frequent consumer complaints and quality problems. Therefore, in order to improve the quality of trendy toy derivatives and standardize the development of the industry, the China Consumers Association has jointly drafted a group standard system for trendy toys derivatives for emerging derivatives with large consumer demand and high quality and safety hazards, which is conducive to preventing product quality and safety risks and establishing a high-quality consumption environment for consumers.
For example, in view of the hot cards on the market, the "Appreciation and Collection of Trend Doll Derivative Products - Art Cards" (T/CPQS C015-2024) has been launched on the basis of the mandatory national standard for GB 6675 toy series, adding limited requirements for chemical substances such as formaldehyde and decomposable aromatic amine dyes; In view of the cups and other drinking utensils that often appear in derivatives, the "Derivative Products of Trend Dolls for Appreciation and Collection: Drinking Utensils" (T/CPQS C016-2024) was launched, which added the migration of specific elements, phthalate content, N-nitrosamines and nitrosylated substances release, 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) release, antioxidant release, volatile compounds and other chemical substance limit requirements on the basis of GB 4806 series food contact material standards; On the basis of the mandatory standard of GB 4943.1, the "USB Data Cable for Derivative Products of Trend Dolls for Appreciation and Collection" (T/CPQS C013-2024) adds physical requirements (plugging and unplugging force, lifting weight, dropping) and other requirements.
Standards lead the upgrading of the trendy toy industry
Relevant data show that the global tide toy market is in a stage of rapid development, the market size has increased from 8.7 billion US dollars in 2015 to 34 billion US dollars in 2022, the mainland is a big producer and exporter of tide toys, the market size of tide toys in 2023 will reach about 57 billion yuan, and it is expected to expand to 110.1 billion yuan in 2026, and the compound average growth rate of the industry will reach 24% from 2022 to 2026. From niche culture to mass market, the trendy toy industry in mainland China has developed by leaps and bounds, and its development is remarkable.
However, with the popularity of trendy toys, due to the long-term lack of standard control constraints, common problems in the industry, such as uneven product quality, opaque blind box consumption, and difficult supervision, have gradually been exposed. In order to protect the interests of consumers, the China Consumers Council has successively issued China's first trendy toy standard "Trendy Dolls and Similar Products for Appreciation" (T/CPQS C010-2022) and "Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Safety Limits and Test Methods for Trendy Toys and Similar Products for Appreciation and Collection" (T/CPQS C011-2023) in 2022 and 2023 respectively, effectively promoting the self-discipline development of the industry.
Li Junqi, deputy director of the Toy Institute of Guangzhou Customs Technology Center, said: "The formulation and release of standards is the first step, and it is more important to implement the standards and play an effective role. In the future, we will strengthen cooperation and exchanges with manufacturers, technical institutions, consumer representatives and other parties, organize relevant technical publicity and training activities, improve the industry's awareness and understanding of the trendy toy group standard, and promote the effective implementation and application of the standard." At the same time, we will actively cooperate with the market supervision department and use the power of standard technology to strengthen the quality control of trendy toy products and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
Lv Yuanzhi, chief quality officer of Bubble Mart, said that the upgrade of the tide play group standard has helped the refined development of the industry. The new group standard has been revised and added on the basis of the old version, covering more safety clauses and quality requirements to ensure the safety of trendy toys products. Nowadays, the tide toy enterprises represented by Bubble Mart need to supply the global market, continuously improve product quality, and strike a balance between traditional manual work and automation, and the upgrading of the tide toy group standard has also strengthened the self-discipline and supervision of the industry, which will help enhance the image and reputation of the entire tide toy industry and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the industry.
Tide play to go to sea "certificate"
In the eyes of people in the fashion toy industry, the optimization and upgrading of the tide toy group logo not only means the continuous breakthrough of China's fashion toy manufacturing level, but also witnesses the current output of China's fashion toy cultural industry. As China's trendy toys steadily advance through globalization, the craftsmanship and materials must meet the safety standards of various countries, not just the domestic market.
According to industry insiders, when early toy brands were looking for factories in China, they tended to find factories that produced toys for Japanese toy brands, because at that time, it was recognized in the industry that the quality requirements of Japanese brands were the highest. Nowadays, people are more willing to look for factories that produce Chinese toy companies, because the almost demanding requirements of trendy toy brands such as Bubble Mart have created a higher level of production.
However, each country has its own access standards, and the optimization and upgrading of the tide toy group standard is more like a certificate for Chinese tide toys to go overseas. It is reported that in addition to meeting the basic requirements of domestic mandatory and recommended standards, the technical terms of the group standards for the tide play and its derivative product series refer to the advanced technical standards of Europe and the United States, such as the group standard of the tide play derivative product series with reference to the EU REACH regulation, and the introduction of 7 common phthalate plasticizer restrictions. Setting higher technical requirements that are closer to the international advanced level will help toy products better integrate into the international market and enhance the international influence of the mainland toy industry. At the same time, the comparison and reference with international standards is conducive to promoting the mainland trendy toy industry to achieve international standards in terms of technological innovation, safety and environmental protection, brand building, etc.
Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, said that the revision and upgrading of the toy group logo has created a good environment for the healthy development of China's toy industry. Through the release of the group standard, a complete set of standard systems has been established for the toy industry, which not only standardizes the quality of domestic toy products, improves the overall industrial level, but also further promotes the international development of the toy industry. With the rapid development of the domestic toy industry, more and more Chinese toy brands have begun to enter the international market. The upgrade of the toy group standard not only improves the manufacturing level of China's toy industry, but also makes it meet the standards and requirements of the international market, providing strong support for the export of China's toy cultural industry.