See Kai Run shoes seized at port for containing excess lead

[YouAreTheFocus]

Local tv station that ran the story:

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Hundreds-of-lead-tainted-childrens-shoes-seized-at-Port-of-Tacoma-157657355.html

"The shoes registered 300 parts per million of lead - three times the U.S. legal limit."

Just posted by SKR on FB:

"Tonight on a local Seattle news program, some See Kai Run boys' shoes were included in a story (although not identified) about imported products that contain excess lead according to the standards of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Recently, as part of routine testing of shipments to the port of Tacoma, we learned that some of our Spring shoes exceeded the maximum amount of lead in the dye used in some of our leather. The number of affected shoes is small and somehow escaped our rigorous testing procedures at our factories in China. We have been working closely with the CPSC and U.S. Customs to fully investigate this issue and took swift action to protect our customers from any possible danger. While all of the shoes discovered at the port never entered the country, we also took immediate action to remove any of the affected styles of shoes from retail stores, our website and our warehouse. Most of us at See Kai Run are parents and care deeply about providing completely safe and healthy shoes for all of the children who wear our shoes and we remain 100% committed to these goals."

Ok, but what about all the shoes that are already out there?! UGH.

[blisstwins]

China is so crazy when it comes to this stuff. No brand is safe.

[fedoragirl]

Where can I find out which ones are not safe? I bought several pairs for DS when they went on EOS sale.

[wellyes]

Every shoe that we know was unsafe -- did not meet safety standards --- was not allowed into US stores. Hopefully this is an example of the system working.

Good use of my tax dollars!

This also makes me extremely grateful to not work in China. The lack of protection for the people who make the things we use is horrifying.

[MamaMolly]

The number of affected shoes is small and somehow escaped our rigorous testing procedures at our factories in China.

Rolling my eyes here. Somehow escaped their testing? Oh please. That just sounds so lame. Like the shoes themselves snuck around the testing process all by themselves, or falsified the results, or what ever it was that caused them to 'somehow escape' their testing. Who was doing the testing? If I had to guess I'd bet there was a fox guarding that hen house.

If a parent is willing to pay SKR prices for shoes perhaps they will now consider purchasing shoes not MIC. I will admit it, cost is the main reason most of the shoes I buy for my DD's are MIC.

[MamaMolly]

Every shoe that we know was unsafe -- did not meet safety standards --- was not allowed into US stores. Hopefully this is an example of the system working.

Good use of my tax dollars!

This also makes me extremely grateful to not work in China. The lack of protection for the people who make the things we use is horrifying.

You are so right! And this is food for thought for me. I used to be much better about avoiding MIC if I could. I got lazy about it, and probably need to shop with my conscience more.

[kijip]

Their overall quality went WAY south when they moved production to China. Way less soft, tighter sizes and they started falling apart on us. 1 pair after less than a few weeks, with the same sort of use the old ones had put up with for months and months. I was so irked with what happened when T was a tot, that I just avoided them entirely with F. Even without lead, the quality was not nearly as good as it was and the prices were higher.

[Dream]

So what kids shoe brands are not made in China? These days its so hard to find anything that's not MIC.

[brittone2]

We have never owned a pair of SKR shoes, but I'm wondering (being lazy here) if they are marketed as 100% leather, or are they synthetic?

Just wondering if the dye was the issue, or if there was vinyl or something like that in the upper, resulting in the higher lead level. I think both issues have been a problem in the past, but I was curious if they market their shoes as all leather, or all leather uppers at least.

[brittone2]

So what kids shoe brands are not made in China? These days its so hard to find anything that's not MIC.

We've used Softstar shoes many times in the past. They are made in the US, they will even accommodate kids with special needs (custom shapes, sizes, widths) or those who need custom widths, etc. They aren't inexpensive but we tend to just buy fewer pairs of better shoes. We've had boots, sandals, and regular shoes. http://www.softstarshoes.com/

You can also customize colors, cutouts, etc. on some models for additional $.

Here's their selection of kid shoes, and they also have a page for babies, etc.
http://www.softstarshoes.com/kid-shoes/kid-shoes-size-4-13.html?p=1

Their thin, flexible rubber soled models are great for kids who need more than a leather Robeez moc type of sole, but aren't ready for sneakers. Very, very flexible.

[codex57]

Rolling my eyes here. Somehow escaped their testing? Oh please. That just sounds so lame. Like the shoes themselves snuck around the testing process all by themselves, or falsified the results, or what ever it was that caused them to 'somehow escape' their testing. Who was doing the testing? If I had to guess I'd bet there was a fox guarding that hen house.

If a parent is willing to pay SKR prices for shoes perhaps they will now consider purchasing shoes not MIC. I will admit it, cost is the main reason most of the shoes I buy for my DD's are MIC.

I've defended a corporation. Seriously, it's the wild wild west.

For example, let's take See Kai Run. The leather is died. Well, they do prelim testing. All good. Randomly test shipment 1 and 2. All good. Full production run starts. Obviously, multiple shipments of leather are shipped in. Most of these batches will be fine, but a supplier (maybe the guy who supplies the dye) has difficulty getting the good stuff or just is greedy and decides to slip in some bad dye in. So, in the middle of a production run, some of the leather has elevated lead because of some supplier.

Tons of testing done. All good. Yet you can still find a bunch of shoes with elevated lead, despite See Kai Run doing everything possible.

You can't literally run full panel tests on every single shoe. Even lead tests with that $15,000 testing gun that exists.

I wouldn't be so harsh on See Kai Run. We don't really know what caused the elevated tests.


To bring it into perspective, your kids would starve if you had to send out a sample of every meal you made to a lab in a foreign country to test it for contaminants. Say you cook breakfast. Takes 2 weeks for lab results back. If it's good, then you can serve it. Two weeks later. Then you can do that for lunch. So, it'll take 4 weeks before your kid can eat the lunch you prepared. That's not reasonable. You can't test every single item. That's why stuff can slip through.

[Dream]

We've used Softstar shoes many times in the past. They are made in the US, they will even accommodate kids with special needs (custom shapes, sizes, widths) or those who need custom widths, etc. They aren't inexpensive but we tend to just buy fewer pairs of better shoes. We've had boots, sandals, and regular shoes. http://www.softstarshoes.com/

You can also customize colors, cutouts, etc. on some models for additional $.

Here's their selection of kid shoes, and they also have a page for babies, etc.
http://www.softstarshoes.com/kid-shoes/kid-shoes-size-4-13.html?p=1

Their thin, flexible rubber soled models are great for kids who need more than a leather Robeez moc type of sole, but aren't ready for sneakers. Very, very flexible.

Thanks, I'll definitely look into them. In the past I've paid more than those prices for DDs shoes so I don't think they're that expensive compared to Umi, Tsukihoshi etc.