How do you read keep away from fire and BS 5722 labels on car-boot nightwear?

What do KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE and LOW FLAMMABILITY TO BS5722 mean?

Pembrokeshire County Council Trading Standards (England, Scotland and Wales guide, last reviewed June 2024) explains the Nightwear (Safety) Regulations 1985. Those Regulations make it an offence to supply some children's nightwear unless it has been treated so that, after washing, it meets the flammability performance of BS5722. They also set labelling so a buyer can see whether other nightwear — including adults' — meets that test.

The two phrases Which? puts in one bullet are not interchangeable:

• KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE (red text) must appear if the garment does not meet BS5722. It may also appear, still in red, on a garment that does meet the test.
• LOW FLAMMABILITY TO BS5722 (black text) is the wording used when the item does meet the test — alone, or together with the red fire warning.
• So a red fire warning, on its own, does not tell you the fabric failed. The black BS5722 line is the one that records a pass against that standard.

Which? (31 October 2025) tells parents to look for both phrases on second-hand nightwear and says that if they are missing the garment might not meet the latest standards. That is a hunt, not a fabric test. Pembrokeshire is the page that says who must be labelled and who must meet the burn test.

Who must meet BS5722, and who only needs a label?

Children's nightwear in the 1985 Regulations means garments designed for, and normally worn by, a person under 13, with size cut-outs. A nightdress with a chest over 91 cm or a length over 122 cm is out of that definition. A dressing gown, bath robe or similar with a chest over 97 cm or a sleeve over 69 cm is out too.

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council summarises the same split more bluntly: pyjamas and babies' clothes are not classed as children's nightwear for the burn-test duty, and they should be labelled instead. Their page types the standard as BS 5722 (and, in one heading, a typo for BS7522). The instrument and Pembrokeshire both use BS5722.

Do the 1985 rules apply to a sleepsuit in a car-boot crate?

Pembrokeshire states it in one sentence: second-hand nightwear does not have to comply with these Regulations. The 1985 duties are about supply of new nightwear in the regulated categories. A used sleepsuit on a rug is outside that instrument.

Traders are not in a vacuum. Pembrokeshire says the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 also require goods to be safe, and that GPSR covers second-hand goods. It points to BS EN 14878 (burning behaviour of children's nightwear, under-14s, including pyjamas, dressing gowns and babies' garments) as the standard suppliers can use to assess second-hand children's nightwear against that GPSR duty. A missing 1985 label on a used garment is therefore a gap in the paperwork, not a laboratory result.

Business Companion tells private sellers to think twice before selling nightwear, because it may not meet the flammability requirements that apply to nightwear sold by traders. That is a seller caution, not a parent verdict on the sleepsuit in your hand.

How do I read the label on a sleepsuit in a crate?

Pembrokeshire: the wording must sit on a durable label on the inside neck, or next to the size label, or on the size label immediately after the size. If you cannot find a neck or size label, you cannot read a 1985 phrase that is not there.

1. 1
   Decide what the garment is Nightdress, pyjamas, sleepsuit / baby garment, dressing gown, terry robe. The 1985 burn-test duty and the labelling duty attach to different rows in the table above. A zip sleepsuit is usually a baby's garment or pyjamas, not a nightdress.
2. 2
   Find the neck or size label Look for red KEEP AWAY FROM FIRE, black LOW FLAMMABILITY TO BS5722, or both. Photograph the label. Colour matters: the BS5722 line is the pass-against-that-standard wording.
3. 3
   Look for the wash-care extra If the fabric was treated with flame-retardant chemicals, the 1985 rules also want DO NOT WASH AT MORE THAN 50C. CHECK SUITABILITY OF WASHING AGENT. A boiled wash history is not something a stall can show you.
4. 4
   Do not stop at the phrase On a used garment the 1985 instrument does not apply. Check wear: thinning fabric, a melted hem, a missing label. Then run the GOV.UK recall search on the brand if there is one. Not found ≠ passed.

In shortRead the garment type first, then the colour of the words. Red fire warning alone is not a fail stamp. Black BS5722 is the 1985 pass phrase. On a car-boot sleepsuit the 1985 rules do not attach; GPSR still does for traders. A label is not a wear inspection.

Is a fire label the only nightwear check?

No. Pembrokeshire notes that nightwear must also avoid strangulation, entrapment and choking hazards from cords and fasteners, and that REACH restricts certain azo dyes and harmful flame retardants. Cords on a coat are a different instrument — the 44 cm hood-cord rule — not the 1985 flammability label.

The Lullaby Trust's second-hand checklist (instructions, standard, GOV.UK recall, one piece) still applies to sleep products as products. This page is only how to read the two nightwear phrases in a crate.