Old Navy shoes

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. Hurt, no treatment

   Made Aug 15, 2012 · , sent to the company Aug 29, 2012 · , published by CPSC Sep 20, 2012

   The product, in the report: Old Navy Toddler Water Socks

   My 2.5 year old daughter fell on her knees twice in one day while walking by the pool in her Old Navy Water Socks.

   Bought from

   Old Navy

   Bought

   Jun 1, 2012, about then

   Where

   phoenix, Arizona: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Age 2, Female

   The reporter’s relation to them

   My Child

   As this report names them

   Brand Old Navy, made or sold by Gap Inc.

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Injury, No First Aid or Medical Attention Received

2. No one hurt

   Made Jun 25, 2012 · , sent to the company Jul 2, 2012 · , published by CPSC Jul 17, 2012

   The product, in the report: Infant/Toddler “Aqua Socks” AKA “Swim Shoes for Baby” in “Pink Shag”

   I am writing you to notify you of a potential safety hazard issue with one of Old Navy’s products. I purchased the Pink Shag Swim Shoes for Baby in size 6 at their store in the Oxmoor Center in Louisville, KY on May 6, 2012. (See attached email store receipt and online product description.) I got them for my 23 month old daughter to wear to the beach and pool side not only to protect her feet from sharp objects, but to help prevent slips and falls pool side and in the pool locker room. They were a little hard to get on, but they fit her feet perfectly, so ill fit is not a factor in the danger these shoes pose in our case.

   While she was wearing them on hardwood floors of our rental house while we were away on vacation at the beach, she slipped and fell several times, once really hard on her face due to these shoes. This all happened during one wearing and within a short time period of about 15 minutes or less. When she fell on her face we immediately took them off in fear of her seriously injuring herself. I did not allow her to wear them any more during our vacation and planned on returning them when we got home.

   Once we got home, I decided to test them pool side to see if maybe they did better on a tile surface, which is a common surface around pools and a reason that people would buy swim shoes for traction (which is what this item claims to provide in the product description). It was like she was skating on ice! Fortunately, I had anticipated this, and was holding her hand to help prevent injury due to another fall.

   I would like to add that I have bought several pairs of shoes from Old Navy for both of my daughters over the last 4 years, and this is not the first time I have had a safety issue with their shoes. I have purchased several other pairs of infant/toddler casual and dress shoes that all have a felt-like material on the soles, which cause loss of traction when worn on hard surface flooring such as hardwood and tile. Why would they put felt on the bottom of a toddler’s shoe, let alone any shoes?!  None of these shoes posed a risk as severe as the water shoes, and fortunately, neither of my daughters has seriously injured themselves due to any of their falls from the aforementioned shoes.

   After my experience with the felt-soled shoes I had decided to never buy Old Navy infant/toddler shoes again, but I thought the water shoes would be different since the soles seemed to have grip when they are dry. I understand that water causes surfaces to be slippery, but that is why people buy water shoes/aqua socks! I, personally, and other members of my family, including my children, have had several different brands of water shoes and have never experienced slipping like this. I was even wearing mine on the same surfaces at the same time as my daughter and didn’t have any problem with slipping.

   After further consideration, I decided that just returning the shoes for a refund would not be the right thing to do. While it would solve my problem, it leaves many other children getting ready to hit the beach and the pool this summer vulnerable to serious injury, and possibly even death. As a result, I have decided to notify you and Old Navy of this product safety issue. I requested that Old Navy not only issue me a full refund, but I also requested and urged them to take this product off their shelves and web site, as well as issue a voluntary recall.

   Model

   896452

   UPC

   490166000592

   Serial number

   n/a

   Bought from

   Old Navy

   Bought

   May 6, 2012

   Where

   Pawley’s Island, South Carolina: Other

   Who was involved

   Age 1, Female

   The reporter’s relation to them

   My Child

   As this report names them

   Brand Old Navy, made or sold by Gap Inc.

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Incident, No Injury

3. First aid

   Made Apr 11, 2011 · , published by CPSC Jun 7, 2011

   The product, in the report: Sparkle Flip Flop sandals

   We’re contacting your office about a product safety issue related to the Old Navy line of “Sparkle Flip Flops,” which we recently purchased from one of your retail stores in the area. We believe this product poses an unreasonable harm to consumers and is unfit for public use. In particular, we experienced that this product causes nausea and headaches from what we deduce are either toxic or noxious fumes being released from the materials contained in the flip flops. I’m uncertain whether this incident is isolated to a small group of this product or your entire line of flip flops for this model. However, we believe that it’s important to bring this matter to your attention. We discovered the problem within the last month when [REDACTED] awoke in the night at the smell of a burning rubber or plastic scent. He initially thought that it came from the central heater or an electrical burning from an outlet or another device. In turn, we vented the home using fans and windows to dissipate the odor because we were suffering headaches and some nausea from the smell. He was not able to locate the source for several days until he traced it to the Old Navy shopping bag, where he identified the Sparkle Flip Flops as the source of the burning scent. We relocated this product to another room, and then relocated it outside after we verified that this product was releasing a very strong noxious odor throughout an enclosed area. Although the product’s odor is heavily perfumed with a sweet scent, it appears unable to mask the noxious industrial fumes emanating from the product. Thus, we are holding the product until further instruction (i.e. product testing or inspection) and notifying you of the problem because it seemingly affects human health. We hope that we may still return it for a full-refund if the period for returns expires before getting instructions. Our family has generally had positive experiences with your products given the value versus price, but items like this should not be qualified for sale to the public. I’ve documented the product with photos to facilitate your identification and am attaching them with this letter for your reference. Please confirm receiving this letter and let us know what your company intends to do to protect consumers from this item.

   Model

   Sparkle Flip Flop

   Bought

   Mar 10, 2011

   Where

   Scottsdale, Arizona: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Male

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Self

   As this report names them

   Brand Old Navy, made or sold by Gap Inc.

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Injury, First Aid Received by Non-Medical Professional

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