Nordstrom Girl’s Shoes

What went wrong

The notice saysSurface paint on the outer sole of these shoes contains excessive levels of lead, violating the federal lead paint standard.

Federal law limits lead in children’s products to 100 parts per million in the material and 90 parts per million in paint and coatings. A recall like this one means testing found more than that. Lead is not visible, so you cannot sort affected pairs by look; match the style and color to the notice.

How to tell if your pair is affected

Product description in the noticeThe recall includes six styles of Nordstrom-brand shoes for girls. "Clarice-Fab" flats are bone colored with a bow. "Eva-Fab" are bone colored T-strap sandals. "Fern-Fab" are ankle strap sandals sold in bone, pink, white, blue polka-dot or pink polka-dot. "Lilly-Fab" are fuchsia gingham ballerina flats with a bow. "Rita-Fab" are ankle strap dress shoes sold in ivory linen, pink linen, white linen, cafe satin, silver satin or white satin. "Vivi-Fab" are open-toe dress shoes in bone, white, green polka-dot, lavender polka-dot or yellow polka-dot. The shoes were sold in girls' sizes 10 through big-kids 7. All shoes have an embossed "NORDSTROM" printed on the insole. Only the colors identified above are subject to the recall.

The notice gives no style numbers or barcodes, so you match on what it does give: the brand and style (Nordstrom Girl’s Shoes), the sizes (girls' sizes 10 through big-kids 7), the sale period (September 2006 to February 2009), the store (Nordstrom) 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 the recalled shoes away from children immediately and return them to any Nordstrom store for a full refund or exchange.

Recall contact, as printed in the notice: For additional information, call Nordstrom at (800) 804-0806 between 7 a.m. and 1 a.m. ET any day, e-mail Nordstrom at [email protected], or visit the firm’s Web site at www.nordstrom.com

The recall is 17 years old, and the last pairs were sold about 17 years ago. A child who wore these at the time has long outgrown them, yet shoes like these keep circulating through younger siblings, swaps and thrift racks. The notice gives a phone number, an email address 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 31,000 units, this is the 32nd 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.
• 8 other footwear recalls in the archive cite the same kind of hazard (chemicals and lead), 5 of them in children’s footwear. The earliest in this group dates from 1999.
• The notice puts the sales window at about 30 months (September 2006 to February 2009), 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 $35 to $45. For shoes in the archive the typical stated price is about $38, so this pair sat near the middle 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

• 2009 brought 9 footwear recalls in our archive, covering about 1,926,500 units in all. This was the 2nd of the year by date and the 5th largest by units.
• The notice names the lead as the part that fails. 5 other footwear recalls in the archive name the same part in their hazard statement; the most recent is Otter MOMO Children’s Sandals (2022).
• Sold at Nordstrom. 5 other footwear recalls in the archive also list Nordstrom as a seller; the most recent is The North Face Women’s Shellista V Mid Waterproof Boots (2025).
• Made in China. 61 of the 91 notices in the archive that name a country list China (67%).
• At the stated price, the 31,000 units come to roughly $1.2 million of retail sales.

Against the other Nordstrom recall

Nordstrom also recalled Nordstrom’s Cadence-Lea and Trio-Lea Girl’s Sandals on June 24, 2008. This recall came 9 months after it. It covered about 20.7 times as many units (31,000 against 1,500). The hazards differ: this one is a chemical or lead hazard, the other a choking hazard. These sold for more, $35 to $45 against $30. They were on sale longer, about 30 months against 3 months.

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