Starry Knight children’s shoes (Montana) in light brown: Non-Detect for Lead, Arsenic, Antimony & Mercury. [20 ppm Cadmium in the black sole.]

Starry Knight Designs, Inc
StarryKnightDesign.com
Made in Montana, USA
Leather Baby Shoes

XRF test results below are for the light-brown version of this shoe.

The leather upper and interior of these shoes is very clean (as far as leather goes) – with Chromium being the primary metal used in the tanning process (this is standard for modern leather clothing items and furniture.) As with the dark brown version of the shoe (link), the black plastic soles of these lighter brown shoes (from the same manufacturer) tested positive (with repeated testing to confirm the results) in the range of 16 to 22 ppm for Cadmium. This amount of Cadmium is considered safe by all current modern standards (the country of Denmark considers items safe if they have less than 75 ppm Cadmium and Washington State has the strictest limits – considering items safe for children as long as they fall below 40 ppm Cadmium.) 

I think generally these seem like a great option for a shoe for a young child, but because children who are the appropriate age to wear these shoes might also normally be found chewing on these shoes – I would like to see the company come up with a Cadmium-free sole if at all possible (I am certain they are not yet aware that their black soles have trace levels of Cadmium.) While I did this testing for one of my readers I will also share the test results with the company, as generally I LOVE the shoes – and I LOVE the fact that they are Made in Montana (I love Montana! 🙂 and I think this would be an easy fix for them to remedy (to come up with a Cadmium-free tread for the bottom of the shoes). All that would be required would be to source several different material options (for new treads for the shoes) and get testing done of these materials prior to integrating them into the manufacturing process.

Given the range in test results of the black soles (and specifically the consistency of Cadmium levels found) I wonder if the company uses a recycled material for the soles. If that is the case the solution might be simply to switch to virgin materials (instead of the same thing using recycled resources.)

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Reading #1) Light brown leather on top of shoe
60-Second Reading

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Bromine (Br):  19 +/- 1 ppm
• Chromium (Cr): 20,500 +/- 100 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 1,056 +/- 31 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 119 +/- 6 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 271 +/- 40 ppm
• Gold (Au): 8 +/- 5 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

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Reading #2) Light brown leather (suede) on inside of shoe
60-Second Reading

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): non-detect
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Bromine (Br):  8 +/- 1 ppm
• Chromium (Cr): 16,200 +/- 100 ppm
• Iron (Fe): 176 +/- 19 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 557 +/- 11 ppm
• Barium (Ba): 427 +/- 46 ppm
• Gold (Au): 24 +/- 6 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

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Reading #3) Black (plastic?) of sole of shoe
60-Second Reading

• Lead (Pb): non-detect
• Cadmium (Cd): 18 +/- 2 ppm (safe by all standards)
• Mercury (Hg): non-detect
• Bromine (Br):  7 +/- 1 ppm
• Chromium (Cr): non-detect
• Iron (Fe): 12,300 +/- 200 ppm
• Zinc (Zn): 10,100 +/- 100 ppm
• Titanium (Ti): 1,009 +/- 353 ppm
• Niobium (Nb): 640 +/- 10 ppm
• Indium (In): 18 +/- 3 ppm
• Tin (Sn): 14 +/- 3 ppm
• Antimony (Sb): 9 +/- 5 ppm
• No other metals detected in consumer goods mode.

Reading #4) Black (plastic?) of sole of shoe
120-Second Reading

• Cadmium (Cd): 20 +/- 2 ppm

More details & related links to be posted shortly.

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For those new to this website:

Tamara Rubin is a Federal-award-winning independent advocate for consumer goods safety and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children. Tamara’s sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in August of 2005. She began testing consumer goods for toxicants in 2009 and was the parent-advocate responsible for finding Lead in the popular fidget spinner toys in 2017. Tamara uses XRF testing (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals), including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony and Arsenic. All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate and replicable. Items are tested multiple times to confirm the test results for each component tested. Please click through to this link to learn more about the testing methodology used for the test results discussed and reported on this website.