BCBG to Settle Charges Over Recalled Sweaters

A Southland company has agreed to pay a $75,000 fine to settle charges that it sold previously recalled sweaters that were so flammable they burned faster than newspaper, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said. In November 1996, AZ3 Inc., doing business as the Vernon-based BCBG Max Azria, recalled about 3,000 women’s chenille sweaters made of 65% rayon and 35% nylon. The company should have disposed of the recalled sweaters, but it instead kept some and sold about 185 of them in its employee store in the summer of 1999. The company issued another recall for the sweaters in the fall of 1999. In agreeing to pay the penalty, BCBG denied it violated the federal Flammable Fabrics Act and Consumer Product Safety Act, the commission said. BCBG did not immediately return calls seeking comment. For more information about the sweater recall, consumers can call BCBG toll-free at (877) 748-2224.