H&M Girls' Water Shoes

What went wrong

The notice saysThough these shoes are marketed for use around water for traction, they become extremely slippery when wet. This poses a risk of slipping and falling on smooth, hard surfaces, such as tile.

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 noticeThese are pink and blue shoes with a multi-colored trim. The shoes have a pink rubber sole with silver glitter incased within it. A butterfly appliqué is attached to the top and flower emblems are on the back and sides. A label inside the shoes reads "364430" and "MADE IN CHINA."

The notice gives no style numbers or barcodes, so you match on what it does give: the brand and style (H&M Girls' Water Shoes), the sale period (March 2005 to May 2006), where it was sold (see “Sold at” above) 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 stop using these shoes and immediately return them to any H&M store for a full refund.

Recall contact, as printed in the notice: Call H&M toll free at (877) 439-6261 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit H&M’s Web site at www.hm.com

The recall is 20 years old, and the last pairs were sold about 20 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 1,900 units, this is the 79th 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 below 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 15 months (March 2005 to May 2006), 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 $8. For sandals, clogs and flip-flops in the archive the typical stated price is about $24, so this pair sat at the cheaper end of its group.
• No incidents were reported before this recall. That is true of 36 of the 95 detailed notices in the archive: firms often recall after their own testing or a supplier finding, not after injuries.

Year, part, store and origin

• 2006 brought 4 footwear recalls in our archive, covering about 16,400 units in all. This was the 2nd of the year by date and the 3rd largest by units.
• The notice names the sole as the part that fails. 3 other footwear recalls in the archive name the same part in their hazard statement; the most recent is Boys' and girls' sandals (2013).
• Made in China. 61 of the 91 notices in the archive that name a country list China (67%).
• At the stated price, the 1,900 units come to roughly $15,000 of retail sales.

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