Charles David Women’s Sample Shoes

What went wrong

The notice saysThe heel of the recalled shoes can detach, posing a fall hazard to consumers.

A fall hazard means a part that carries your weight or keeps the shoe on your foot can fail while walking. Our archive shows this pattern across sandals, boots and dress shoes; the notice text above names the specific part.

How to tell if your pair is affected

Product description in the noticeThe recall involves various colors and styles of Charles by Charles David brand (item #SAMPCHSHOE) and Charles David of California brand (item #SAMPCDSHOE) women’s sample shoes. The shoes were sold in women’s sizes 7 and 9. The item number can be located on the original receipt.

The notice gives no style numbers or barcodes, so you match on what it does give: the brand and style (Women’s Sample Shoes), the sizes (women’s sizes 7 and 9), the sale period (April 2009 to June 2009), the store (Nordstrom) and the “made in” label (China, Spain, Italy). If a detail does not line up, the recall contact below can confirm.

What the notice tells you to do

RemedyConsumers should stop wearing the recalled shoes immediately and return them to any Nordstrom or Nordstrom Rack store for a full refund.

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 Monday through Friday, e-mail Nordstrom at [email protected], or visit www.nordstrom.com. Consumers can also contact Charles David collect at (310) 348-2075 between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET or e-mail [email protected]

The recall is 17 years old, and the last pairs were sold about 17 years ago. The notice gives a phone number, an email address and a website for the firm; contact details that old may no longer work, while the CPSC notice stays online as the record of the recall.

How this recall compares

• With about 3,200 units, this is the 71st 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 below typical size.
• 26 other footwear recalls in the archive cite the same kind of hazard (falls), 9 of them in women’s footwear. The earliest in this group dates from 1998.
• The notice puts the sales window at about 3 months (April 2009 to June 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 $22 to $80. For shoes in the archive the typical stated price is about $38, so this pair sat at the pricier end of its group.
• The notice cites 1 report before the recall. 36 of the 95 detailed notices in the archive cite no incidents at all.

Year, part, store and origin

• 2009 brought 9 footwear recalls in our archive, covering about 1,926,500 units in all. This was the 5th of the year by date and the 7th largest by units.
• The notice names the heel as the part that fails. 8 other footwear recalls in the archive name the same part in their hazard statement; the most recent is Women’s High Heeled Sandals (2023).
• 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 and Spain and Italy. 61 of the 91 notices in the archive that name a country list China (67%).
• 1 report on about 3,200 units works out to roughly 31 reports per 100,000 units. The median across the 55 recalls that give both figures is 16, so this recall drew more reports per pair than most.
• At the stated price, the 3,200 units come to roughly $160,000 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.