Payless ShoeSource Girls' Boots

What went wrong

The notice saysThe guitar-shaped zipper pulls on each boot can interlock while a child is walking, causing the child to trip and fall.

For children’s footwear, fall-hazard recalls in our archive tend to involve straps, soles or zipper pulls rather than heels: parts that catch on each other or give way while a child is running. Kids rarely report a near miss, so it is worth checking hand-me-down pairs against the notice details.

How to tell if your pair is affected

Product description in the noticeThis recall involves black jeweled girls' boots. The boots have a silhouette of a guitar on the outer leg and a guitar-shaped zipper pull on the inner leg. "Hannah Montana" is engraved on the boot outsole and a photo of the singer and show’s character is printed on the box. The boots were sold in girls' sizes 10½ to 4½. No other styles or models are involved in this recall.

The notice gives no style numbers or barcodes, so you match on what it does give: the brand and style (Girls' Boots), the sizes (girls' sizes 10½ to 4½), the sale period (August 2007 to September 2007), the store (Payless) and the “made in” label (China). If a detail does not line up, the recall contact below can confirm.

What the notice tells you to do

RemedyConsumers should take these boots away from children immediately and return them to the store where purchased for a full refund or exchange.

Recall contact, as printed in the notice: For additional information, contact Payless at (800) 654-0697 between 7:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. CT daily. Consumers can also visit the firm’s Web site at www.payless.com

The recall is 19 years old, and the last pairs were sold about 19 years ago. Children outgrow shoes fast, so pairs like these now turn up mainly as hand-me-downs or in resale, where the recall still applies. The notice gives a phone number and a website for the firm; details that old may have changed, and the CPSC notice stays online as the record.

How this recall compares

• With about 90,000 units, this is the 19th largest of the 95 footwear recalls in our archive that give a U.S. unit count. The median recall in the archive covers about 7,200 units, so this one is well above typical size.
• 26 other footwear recalls in the archive cite the same kind of hazard (falls), 5 of them in children’s footwear. The earliest in this group dates from 1998.
• The notice puts the sales window at about 2 months (August 2007 to September 2007), against a median of 7 months across recalls that state one. The recall came 1 month after the last sale date.
• The notice gives a price of $27. For boots in the archive the typical stated price is about $29, so this pair sat near the middle of its group.
• The notice cites 5 reports before the recall. 36 of the 95 detailed notices in the archive cite no incidents at all.

Year, part, store and origin

• 2007 brought 8 footwear recalls in our archive, covering about 1,262,600 units in all. This was the 8th of the year by date and the 4th largest by units.
• The notice names the zipper pull as the part that fails. 2 other footwear recalls in the archive name the same part in their hazard statement; the most recent is Cha Cha and Cha Cha 2 girls' boots (2013).
• Sold at Payless. 2 other footwear recalls in the archive also list Payless as a seller; the most recent is Toddler Clog Shoes (2007).
• Made in China. 61 of the 91 notices in the archive that name a country list China (67%).
• 5 reports on about 90,000 units works out to roughly 5.6 reports per 100,000 units. The median across the 55 recalls that give both figures is 16, so this recall drew fewer reports per pair than most.
• At the stated price, the 90,000 units come to roughly $2.4 million of retail sales.

Against the other Payless ShoeSource recall

Payless ShoeSource also recalled Toddler Clog Shoes on July 17, 2007. This recall came 3 months after it. It was the smaller of the two, 90,000 units against 270,000. The hazards differ: this one is a fall hazard, the other a choking hazard. These sold for more, $27 against $15 to $20. They were on sale for a shorter time, about 2 months against 18 months.

Comparisons use the 103 footwear recalls in our archive, read from the CPSC recall database on October 20, 2026. See data and methods.