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                                                                   Exhibit 10.24

                              CONSULTING CONTRACT

         This Consulting Contract made and entered into as of December 22, 2000
by and between Payless ShoeSource, Inc., a Delaware corporation ("Payless") and
Jed L. Norden ("Consultant").

         WHEREAS, Payless and Consultant desire that Consultant serve as a
consultant to Payless for the fees and upon and subject to the terms and
provisions hereinafter set forth;

         In consideration of the mutual promises and agreements hereinafter set
forth, it is hereby agreed by and between Payless and Consultant as follows:

         1. (a) The term of the Consulting Contract shall be from February 10,
2001, to February 9, 2002. Consultant covenants and agrees that he will, when
and as requested by Payless (subject to Section 1(c), below), from time to time
during the term of this Consulting Contract, and at such place or places as
Payless may reasonably request, render and furnish consulting services relating
to the conduct and operation of Payless' affairs as shall be requested by the
proper officers of Payless.

         (b) In rendering the consulting services provided for herein,
Consultant shall make available to Payless such personal expertise, know-how and
assistance as Payless may reasonably request. The parties recognize and agree
that Consultant's services are of a special and unique character. Consultant's
obligations hereunder are obligations of the Consultant alone, and may not be
assigned to or performed by others.

         (c) Consultant and Payless desire to permit Consultant maximum
flexibility in terms of the timing of his work, consistent with Payless' need
for his consulting services. In addition, however, Consultant and Payless
recognize that, in many instances, Payless must be able to count on receiving
such services in a timely fashion. Therefore, Consultant and Payless shall both
seek to be as reasonable as possible in exercising their respective rights in
carrying out their respective duties hereunder, and shall communicate with each
other as far in advance as reasonably practicable concerning the scheduling of
consulting services.

         (d) Consultant shall render consulting services during the term of this
Consulting Contract for up to 40 days. For purposes of this Consulting Contract,
Consultant shall be deemed to have furnished and rendered consulting services
under this Consulting Contract for a "day" for each calendar day or portion
thereof on which Consultant provides not less than three hours of consulting
services under this Consulting Contract; provided, however, that in no event
shall any single calendar day be counted as more than one "day" for purposes of
calculating fees payable to Consultant under this Consulting Contract. In the
event that Consultant provides less than three hours of services in any calendar
day (a "short-hour day") under this Consulting Contract, then Consultant shall
be deemed to have furnished and rendered consulting services under this
Consulting Contract for a "day" for each group of short-hour days in which the
aggregate of hours or consulting services rendered is not less than seven hours;
provided, however, that in no event shall any one short-hour day be included in
more than one such group of short-hour days.

         2. (a) Payless agrees to pay Consultant $400,000 in consulting fees
(before taxes) for the performance of its obligations under this Consulting
Contract, to be paid in equal quarterly installments on or about the first week
after the close of the fiscal quarter.


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         (b) In the event that, during the term of this Consulting Contract,
Consultant renders and furnishes consulting services in excess of the number of
days described in Section 1(d) of this Consulting Contract, then Payless agrees
to pay Consultant supplementary consulting fees, in addition to the consulting
fees described in Section 2 (a) of this Consulting Contract, at a rate of $2,000
per day for each day that Consultant so renders and furnishes such excess
consulting services. In the event that Payless becomes obligated to pay
supplementary consulting fees under this Section 2(b) Payless agrees to pay such
supplementary consulting fees accrued on or about the first week after the close
of the fiscal quarter.

         (c) Payless shall reimburse Consultant for all reasonable ordinary and
necessary business expenses incurred directly in the rendering of consulting
services hereunder, including, but not by way of limitation, expenses for such
matters as transportation, travel, entertainment, long distance telephone calls
and other necessary and customary expenses on the same terms as were offered
while Consultant was employed as Senior Vice President by Payless. Payment of
such expenses during the term of this Consulting Contract shall be made promptly
upon presentation of supporting documents comparable to those required to be
submitted by employees of Payless. If business is conducted by Consultant on any
trip for Payless and for a non-Payless client of consultant, then such trip
costs will be allocated equally among all of the clients so served.

         (d) It is agreed and understood that nothing in this Section 2 or
elsewhere in this Consulting Contract shall be deemed or construed to create or
continue an employer-employee relationship between Consultant and Payless, it
being agreed that such employer-employee relationship between Consultant
terminated on or about February 9, 2001.

         3. (a) Consultant covenants and agrees that during the term of this
Consulting Contract, and for a period of one (1) year from the earlier of
February 9, 2002, or the actual termination of this Consulting Contract, he
shall not:

                  (i) either alone or in concert with others, directly or
         indirectly, own, be a partner in, be a member of, operate, be employed
         by, or act as an advisor, consultant, agent, officer, director, or
         independent contractor for, or otherwise have an interest in, a
         Competing Business;

                  (ii) solicit for employment, hire or offer employment to, or
         disclose information to or otherwise aid or assist any other person or
         entity other than Payless in soliciting for employment, hiring or
         offering employment to, any employee of Payless, or

                  (iii) take any action which is intended to harm Payless or its
         reputation, which Payless reasonably concludes could lead to unwanted
         or unfavorable publicity to Payless; unless Consultant (a) shall first
         have written to the Chairman of Payless and shall have fully disclosed
         in advance of such activity both (1) the identity of such competing
         business and (2) the nature of the consulting or similar services to be
         rendered and (b) shall first have secured the prior written approval of
         the Chairman to Consultant's rendering such consulting or other similar
         services, which prior written approval shall not be unreasonably
         withheld; but except to the extent limited as aforesaid, and as
         hereinafter provided, Consultant's activities shall not be otherwise
         restricted by its Consulting Contract.


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         (b) The term "Competing Business" shall include, but not be limited to

                  (i) any retail business with gross sales or revenue in the
         prior fiscal year of more than $25 million (or which is a subsidiary,
         affiliate or joint venture partner of a business with gross sales or
         revenue in the prior fiscal year of more than $25 million) which sells
         footwear at retail to consumers at price points competitive, or likely
         to be competitive with Payless and where footwear represents more than
         10% of the total business of that retail business, located within 20
         miles of any Payless store or the store of any wholesale customer of
         Payless in the United States, or anywhere in any foreign country in
         which Payless has retail stores, franchisees or wholesale customers;

                  (ii) any franchising or wholesaling business with gross sales
         or revenue in the prior fiscal year of more than $25 million (or which
         is a subsidiary, affiliate or joint venture partner of a business with
         gross sales or revenue in the prior fiscal year of more than $25
         million) which sells footwear at wholesale to franchisees, retailers or
         other footwear distributors and where footwear represents more than 10%
         of the total business of that franchising or wholesaling business,
         located within 20 miles of any Payless store or the store of any
         wholesale customer of Payless in the United States, or anywhere in any
         foreign country in which Payless has retail stores, franchisees or
         wholesale customers;

                  (iii) any footwear manufacturing business with gross sales or
         revenue in the prior fiscal year of more than $25 million (or which is
         a subsidiary, affiliate or joint venture partner of a business with
         gross sales or revenue in the prior fiscal year of more than $25
         million) which sells footwear to retailers or other footwear
         distributors located within 20 miles of any Payless store or the store
         of any wholesale customer of Payless in the United States, or anywhere
         in any foreign country in which Payless has retail stores, franchisees
         or wholesale customers; (e.g. including, without limitation, Dexter,
         Stride Rite, Wolverine Worldwide, Timberland, Nike, Reebok, K-Swiss,
         Keds and Adidas);

                  (iv) specifically Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Ames, Mervyn's,
         Foot Star, Inc., Edison, Aldo, Genesco, Venator, Famous Footwear, Shoe
         Carnival, Kohl's, Big Five, J.C. Penney, Sears and Montgomery Wards
         (the above notwithstanding);

                  (v) any business which provides buying office services to any
         store or group of stores or businesses referred to in Paragraph 3(b)
         (i), 3(b) (ii), 3(b) (iii) and 3(b)(iv).

         (c) The background of the non-compete restriction is as follows:

                  (i) Payless is one of the leading retail companies in the
         United States, with self-service shoe stores throughout the United
         States, Puerto Rico, U.S.Virgin Islands, Guam, Saipan and Canada; and

                  (ii) In connection with its business, Payless has expended a
         great deal of time, money and effort to develop and maintain its
         confidential, proprietary and trade secret information; this
         information, if misused or disclosed, could be very harmful to Payless'
         business and its competitive position in the marketplace; and


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                  (iii) Consultant desires to contract with Payless, to be given
         access to confidential and proprietary information of Payless necessary
         for Consultant to perform the Consulting Contract, but which Payless
         would not make available to Consultant but for Consultant's signing and
         agreeing to abide by the terms of this Consulting Contract with
         Payless; and

                  (iv) Consultant recognizes and acknowledges that the
         Consulting Contract with Payless provides Consultant with access to
         Payless' confidential and proprietary trade secret information and
         other confidential business information; and

                  (v) long-term customer and supplier relationships often can be
         difficult to develop and require a significant investment of time,
         effort and expense; and

                  (vi) Consultant recognizes and acknowledges that if
         Consultant's contract with Payless were to cease, Payless needs certain
         protections in order to ensure that Consultant does not appropriate and
         use any confidential information entrusted to Consultant during the
         course of this Consulting Contract by Payless or take any other action
         which could result in a loss of Payless' goodwill that was generated on
         Payless' behalf and at its expense, and, more generally, to prevent
         Consultant from having an unfair competitive advantage over Payless.

         4. Payless and Consultant shall each be entitled to pursue all legal
and equitable rights and remedies to secure performance of the obligations and
duties of the other under this Consulting Contract, and enforcement of one or
more of such rights and remedies shall in no way preclude Payless or Consultant
from pursuing, at the same time or subsequently, any and all other rights and
remedies available to each of them. In no event may either party (the
"terminating party") terminate this Consulting Contract or Consultant's
engagement hereunder on account of the breach of this Consulting Contract by the
other party unless the terminating party gives notice to the other party of the
grounds for claiming such breach and such grounds continue for ten days after
the other party receives such notice. The giving of one such notice on one or
more grounds shall not preclude the giving of a subsequent notice or notices. In
any legal or other proceeding with respect to any such breach of this Consulting
Contract, the only basis on which the terminating party may establish such
stated breach will be the grounds stated in any such notice or subsequent notice
or notices.

         5. Whenever it is provided herein that notice, demand, request or other
communication shall or may be given to or served upon either of the parties by
the other, and whenever either of the parties shall desire to give or serve upon
the other any notice, demand, request or other communication, each such notice,
demand, request or other communication shall be in writing and shall not be
effective for any purposes unless the same shall be given or served by mailing
the same or having the same delivered by an independent courier, addressed as
follows:

<TABLE>
         <S>                                       <C>
         (a)  If to Payless:
                                                   with a copy to:
              Payless ShoeSource, Inc.             Payless ShoeSource, Inc.
              3231 SE 6th Street                   3231 SE 6th Street
              Topeka, Kansas 66607                 Topeka, Kansas 66607

</TABLE>

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<TABLE>
         <S>                                       <C>


              Attention:  Chairman                 Attention:  General Counsel
</TABLE>

or at such other address or addresses as Payless may from time to time designate
by notice given to Consultant.

<TABLE>
         <S>                                       <C>
         (b)  If to Consultant:
                                                   with a copy to:
              Jed L. Norden                        Mary Anne Sedey, Esq.
              3925 SW Clarion Park Drive           Mary Anne Sedey & Associates
              Topeka, Kansas  66610                3030 S. Grand Blvd., Ste. 200
                                                   St. Louis, MO  63118

</TABLE>

or at such other address or addresses as Payless Consultant may from time to
time designate by notice given to Payless Consultant.

Every notice, demand, request or other communication under this Consulting
Contract shall be given or served by (i) depositing the same in the United
States mail, first-class, registered or certified, postage paid, return receipt
requested, or (ii) depositing the same with an independent courier, expenses
prepaid, return receipt requested, and the postal receipt or courier receipt
showing delivery to Payless or to Consultant, as the case may be, of any such
notice, demand, request or other communication addressed and delivered in
accordance with this Section 5 shall be deemed conclusive evidence that (i) such
notice, demand, request or other communication shall have been given or served
as of the date so deposited in the United States mail or with such independent
courier and (ii) such addressee shall have received the same; such notice,
demand, request or other communication shall be effective as of the time of
receipt by the addressee.

         6. (a) Consultant will not, at any time, directly or indirectly, use or
disclose any of Payless' Confidential Information except as authorized and
within the scope of the Consulting Contract with Payless.

         (b) At Payless' request and/or termination of this Consulting Contract
with Payless, Consultant will return to Payless all documents, records,
notebooks, computer diskettes and tapes and anything else containing Payless'
Confidential Information, including all copies thereof, as well as any other
Payless property, in Consultant's possession, custody or control. Consultant
will also delete from Consultant's own computer or other electronic storage
medium, any of Payless' proprietary or Confidential Information. Not later than
20 days after the Consulting Contract is terminated, Consultant will certify in
writing to Payless that Consultant has complied with these obligations.

         (c) During the terms of this Consulting Contract with Payless and
thereafter, Consultant will (i) notify and provide Payless immediately with the
details of any unauthorized possession, use or knowledge of any of Payless'
Confidential Information, (ii) assist in preventing any reoccurrence


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of this possession, use or knowledge, and (iii) cooperate with Payless in any
litigation or other action to protect or retrieve Payless' Confidential
information.

         (d) "Confidential Information" means any non-public information
pertaining to Payless' business. Confidential Information includes information
disclosed by Payless to Consultant, and information developed or learned by
Consultant during the course of or as a result of the Consulting Contract with
Payless, which Consultant also agrees is Payless' property. Consultant further
agrees that any item of intellectual or artistic property generated or prepared
by Consultant, for Consultant or with others, in connection with this Consulting
Contract with Payless is Payless' sole property and shall remain so unless
Payless otherwise specifically agrees in writing. Confidential Information
includes, without limitation, information and documents concerning Payless'
processes; suppliers (including Payless' terms, conditions and other business
arrangements with suppliers); supplier and customer lists; advertising,
marketing plans and strategies; profit margins; seasonal plans, goals,
objectives and projections, compilations, analysis and projections regarding
Payless' divisions, businesses, product segments, product lines, suppliers,
sales and expenses; files; trade secrets and patent applications (prior to their
being public); salary, staffing and employment information (including
information about performance of other executives); and "know-how," techniques
or any technical information not of a published nature relating, for example, to
how Payless conducts it business.

         (e) Consultant agrees that Consultant will not disclose to Payless or
use, or induce Payless to use, any proprietary information, trade secret or
confidential business information of any other person or entity, including any
previous employer of Consultant. Consultant also represents that Consultant has
returned all property, proprietary information, trade secret and confidential
business information belonging to any prior employer.

         7. Consultant acknowledges and agrees that Consultant understands the
restrictions in Paragraph 3 above, that they are reasonable and that such
restrictions are enforceable in view of the background for the non-compete
restriction set forth in Section 3(c), and in view of, among other things,

         (a) the market in which Payless operates it business;

         (b) the confidential information to which Consultant has access;

         (c) Consultant's training and background, which are such that neither
Payless nor Consultant believe that the restraint will pose an undue hardship on
the Consultant;

         (d) the fact that a Competing Business could benefit greatly if it were
to obtain Payless' confidential information;

         (e) the fact that Payless would not have adequate protection if
Consultant was permitted to work for any Competing Business since Payless would
be unable to verify whether its confidential information was being disclosed or
misused;


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         (f) The limited duration of, the limited scope of, and the limited
activities prohibited by, the restrictions in Paragraph 3 above; and

         (g) Payless' legitimate interests in protecting its confidential
information, goodwill and relationships.

Furthermore, Payless and Consultant hereby expressly agree that should any court
of competent jurisdiction determine that any provision of this Consulting
Contract is, but for the provisions of this Section 7, illegal or void as
against public policy, for any reason, then such provision shall automatically
be amended to the extent (but only to the extent) necessary to make it
sufficiently narrow in scope, time and geographic area that such court shall
determine it not to be illegal or void as against public policy. If any such
provision cannot be amended to the extent provided in the preceding sentence,
then such provision shall be severed from this Consulting Contract. In either
event, all other remaining terms and provisions shall remain in full force and
effect.

         8. Consultant agrees to disclose fully to Payless, and hereby assigns
and transfers to Payless, and agrees to execute any additional documentation
Payless may reasonably request to evidence the assignment and transfer,
immediately upon the conception, development, making or acquisition thereof, the
right, title, and interest in and to any and all inventions, discoveries,
improvements, innovations, and/or designs (the "Work Product") conceived,
discovered, developed, acquired or secured by Consultant, solely or jointly with
others or otherwise, together with all associated U.S. and foreign intellectual
property rights (i.e. patents, copyrights, trademarks or trade secrets) either:

         (a) during the period of this Consulting Contract, if such Work Product
is related directly to or indirectly, to the business of, or to the research or
development work of Payless;

         (b) with the use of the time, materials, or facilities of Payless; or

         (c) within six (6) months after termination of this Consulting Contract
if conceived as a result of and is attributable to work done during such
employment and relates to Work Product within the scope of the business of
Payless, together with rights to all intellectual property rights which may be
granted thereon.

Upon discovery, development or acquisition of any such Work Product, Consultant
shall notify Payless and shall execute and deliver to Payless, without further
compensation, such documents prepared by Payless as may be reasonable or
necessary to prepare or prosecute applications for rights in such Work Product
and to assign and transfer to Payless Consultant's right, title and interest in
and to such Work Product and intellectual property rights thereof. Consultant
acknowledges that Consultant has carefully read and considered the provisions of
this paragraph and, having done so, agrees that the restrictions set forth
herein are fair and reasonable and are reasonably required for the protection of
the interests of Payless, its officers, directors and other associates.

         9. This Consulting Contract shall be governed by and construed in
accordance with the laws of the State of Kansas. The appropriate state or
federal courts of the State of Kansas shall have


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exclusive jurisdiction over the parties hereto and each party hereby submits to
the personal jurisdiction of said courts of the State of Kansas otherwise having
jurisdiction over the subject matter.

         10. The entire understanding and agreement between the parties with
respect to Consultant's consulting services hereunder has been incorporated into
this Consulting Contract. This Consulting Contract may not be amended, except in
writing, signed by both parties.

         11. Consultant's obligations hereunder may not be assigned without the
express written consent of Payless. This Consulting Contract shall be binding
upon Consultant, its successors and assigns and upon Payless, its successors and
assigns.

         IN WITNESS THEREOF, Payless and Consultant have executed this
Consulting Contract in two counterparts, each of which shall be deemed an
original, on the dates indicated below, but effective as of the day and year
first above written.

<TABLE>
<S>                                                 <C>
Payless ShoeSource, Inc.                             Consultant

By: /S/ Steven J. Douglass                            By: /S/ Jed L. Norden
   ------------------------------------                   ------------------------------------
   Steven J. Douglass                                     Jed L. Norden
   Chairman and Chief Executive Officer


Date: 12/22/00                                        Date: 12/22/00
      ---------------------------------                     ------------------------------------
</TABLE>


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