"Manufacturers must be particularly strict in regard to materials" | Key4Communications |

José María Vallés leads Millennium Baby, a company established in 2008 in order to distribute Cybex juvenile products in Spain. The company, which has security as the main priority, recently participated in a test of child restraint systems organised by the Spanish Royal Automobile Association (RACE).

Cybex has worked this year with RACE in its child restraint systems test. How did this collaboration started?
At the end of last year RACE contacted Cybex. The association was looking for a partner motivated to promote child safety, and Cybex, as leading brand in security, fulfilled perfectly this requirement. The idea was to jointly raise awareness of the need to use quality child safety seats.

Could you outline your recent campaign called "Responsible Security"?
The campaign aims to raise awareness among parents of the need to use a good quality safety seat and use it properly. We also wish to disclose all technical innovations being developed, such as safety cushions or oversized side protections, as a way to provide the best security for children.

For example, in a recent test we have recently demonstrated that a child who pulls the arms out of the harness could suffer very serious injuries in an accident. This can be prevented by two ways: parents can buy a chair with a cushion of security (which does not carry harnesses), or they can tighten harnesses to prevent children to pull out their arms.

This year the test has been expanded to include a surprise review of toxicity materials in contact with the child.
Indeed, we have studied the components in direct contact with the child in order to detect the level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, flame retardants, phenols, organotin compounds, azo dyes and heavy metals. It is logical to think that the test will eventually expand its spectrum, because the landscape is changing. Allergies, intolerances and childhood cancers are increasing, and the presence of these chemicals could cause cancer or be very problematic for some children. Manufacturers must be particularly strict in regard to materials, since it makes no sense to manufacture the best products if at the end they could cause cancer.

What trends do you think are the most significant in compact folding buggies and car seats?
In buggies, families are looking for practicality and fashion. Most have been using a big stroller, and they need a lightweight chair that takes up little space, and that is also very functional and fashionable.

In car seats there are two profiles: on the one hand, and luckily fewer every day, parents that seek to avoid fines and buy the cheapest seats; on the other hand, and hopefully growing a lot as a group, parents that want the safest seats and look for a child care specialist retailer for advice on buying them and help them in the installation.

Millennium Baby was born in 2008 to distribute Cybex products in Spain. Can you explain how were the beginnings and the implementation of the company?
When we started, we were three employees and four external agents in an office of 60 square meters, with the store outsourced to a logistics operator... It's fun to remember all this now: it’s been just four years but it seems a lifetime! I can not say that beginnings were hard, because we had the confidence and support of distributors, who believed in our products from the start. For our part we have tried to provide the best service possible, and as a result of this, today we use a 1,500 square meters warehouse, there are 24 people in the company, and we occupy an increasingly important place in the market.