Keen Quality??
- Thread starter RusherRacing
- Start date
Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
Keen quality is about as bad as it gets in the outdoor footwear industry, and Keen is more than aware of it. I have a hard time faulting them for it, really. They started out as a sandal maker less than a decade ago, so it's hard to put them on the same level as century old footwear makers like Zamberlan, Asolo, Fabiano, etc.
There are plenty of people who say they've had great luck with their keens. In many cases, those are either users who bought their Keens prior to 2008, or they just don't use them hard. I suppose some just got lucky. Others have unusual standards. The poster above said he made it 280 miles in the Himalyas before his delaminated. I would expect a boot to wear out before it came apart. By 2008, so many people had consumed the Keen Koolade, sales demanded the addition of two new factories and things did not go well. They had to expand production so they could sell through fashion stores like Dillards and Macys. Hardly your hard core outfitter. By 2009, quality was so bad, Keen was sending entire containers of product BACK to their Chinese factories. By 2010 a multitude of specialty dealers had dropped the brand because it was such a headache. Our store sells roughly 3000 pairs of shoes and boots a year and in 2009 we sent back roughly one out of every nine pairs of Keens we sold. As an example, we send back one pair of Asolo per 75 we sell. We've never sent back a Kayland. We've had maybe one or two Scarpa failures. Soloman has had just a handful. Keen failures are STILL such a common thing, they don't even ask to see the failure, they just send us another pair, sometimes two just in case.
Keen has since moved production to new factories in China, and production is WAY better than it was in 2008/9, especially during their water-based glue days, but they haven't changed their designs, which they admit will probably never be the ultimate in durability. When you make an outsole with as many as five separate bonded components, it's likely they'll come apart.
Even today, I can often pull a Keen out of the box and peel a lug off. We only recommend Keens for the very most light duty of users. Keen fans are a funny lot. We've had customers blow up half a dozen boots in the span of a year and they still won't buy anything else.
There are plenty of people who say they've had great luck with their keens. In many cases, those are either users who bought their Keens prior to 2008, or they just don't use them hard. I suppose some just got lucky. Others have unusual standards. The poster above said he made it 280 miles in the Himalyas before his delaminated. I would expect a boot to wear out before it came apart. By 2008, so many people had consumed the Keen Koolade, sales demanded the addition of two new factories and things did not go well. They had to expand production so they could sell through fashion stores like Dillards and Macys. Hardly your hard core outfitter. By 2009, quality was so bad, Keen was sending entire containers of product BACK to their Chinese factories. By 2010 a multitude of specialty dealers had dropped the brand because it was such a headache. Our store sells roughly 3000 pairs of shoes and boots a year and in 2009 we sent back roughly one out of every nine pairs of Keens we sold. As an example, we send back one pair of Asolo per 75 we sell. We've never sent back a Kayland. We've had maybe one or two Scarpa failures. Soloman has had just a handful. Keen failures are STILL such a common thing, they don't even ask to see the failure, they just send us another pair, sometimes two just in case.
Keen has since moved production to new factories in China, and production is WAY better than it was in 2008/9, especially during their water-based glue days, but they haven't changed their designs, which they admit will probably never be the ultimate in durability. When you make an outsole with as many as five separate bonded components, it's likely they'll come apart.
Even today, I can often pull a Keen out of the box and peel a lug off. We only recommend Keens for the very most light duty of users. Keen fans are a funny lot. We've had customers blow up half a dozen boots in the span of a year and they still won't buy anything else.
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Toyotero
Explorer
I bought a pair of these when they were on sale at REI in Dec.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Keen-Mens-Klamath-KN1276SBYL/dp/B001PWXT8M"]Amazon.com: Men's Keen Klamath - KN1276SBYL: Shoes[/ame]
They are waiting for me at a relative´s house in TX where I had them shipped (nice things tend to not arrive to their destination in the mail system here)... I´ll get them next week. Hopefully they hold up well like my 5 yr old Lowas did... or at least as well as my wife´s 5 yr old Columbia boots are!
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Keen-Mens-Klamath-KN1276SBYL/dp/B001PWXT8M"]Amazon.com: Men's Keen Klamath - KN1276SBYL: Shoes[/ame]
They are waiting for me at a relative´s house in TX where I had them shipped (nice things tend to not arrive to their destination in the mail system here)... I´ll get them next week. Hopefully they hold up well like my 5 yr old Lowas did... or at least as well as my wife´s 5 yr old Columbia boots are!
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Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
I think part of the big challenge with Keen is their brand identity. It's hard to produce things like this below and still retain a hard-core offering.
scarysharkface
Explorer
I have found my Keens to be as durable as my Vasque Sundowners. The Vasque develop leaks and the soles delaminate from the rest of the boot. I've had several pairs of both Sundowners and Summits do this over the years. My Keens (pre-'08) have simply worn-through the soles..
John
John
RusherRacing
Adventurer
I am glad to see this thread continued. Well we had a our first child a cute little boy last week so I have been preoccupied and haven't even contacted Keen yet. But I will also post up pictures of the issues on all three shoes/boots I have tomorrow.
Overall they do fit great, just a little surprised by some of the issues I have had.
Overall they do fit great, just a little surprised by some of the issues I have had.
RusherRacing
Adventurer
Soles worn out in less than 3 months. Keen did warrenty this pair without issue. Just was surprised out how quickly they wore. Most of my shoes look like that after 7-8 months.
DSC_2015 by Rusher Racing, on Flickr
My boots are two years old just hope I can get them repaired. Even if it costs a few bucks.
DSC_2011 by Rusher Racing, on Flickr
My third pair have worked good so far only about 3 months old but they are wearing really good. Except I just noticed this. I will probably just put in some shoe goo.
DSC_2010 by Rusher Racing, on Flickr
But overall I haven't been that impressed with how they are wearing compared to other similar priced shoes.
DSC_2015 by Rusher Racing, on Flickr
My boots are two years old just hope I can get them repaired. Even if it costs a few bucks.
DSC_2011 by Rusher Racing, on Flickr
My third pair have worked good so far only about 3 months old but they are wearing really good. Except I just noticed this. I will probably just put in some shoe goo.
DSC_2010 by Rusher Racing, on Flickr
But overall I haven't been that impressed with how they are wearing compared to other similar priced shoes.
NashvilleRunner
Observer
I have a pair of the Keen Newport H20's and I really like them. They are quite comfortable and will have a better review of them this summer.
demsaoroi88
New member
i have a pair of casual city walkers/light trail keens and they've lasted about 4 years with very little sign of wear. they're like these:
On the other hand, I have a set of keen river walkers with a mostly rubber/neoprene sole, and it continually tries to delaminate itself. like this:
They are beautiful and faster than I thought. I like them!
----------------------------
babi
thoi trang tre em
quan ao tre em
Christophe Noel
Expedition Leader
For what it's worth, our Keen rep told me yesterday that late in 2010 Keen upper management fired at least a dozen people in charge of production and quality control in the US and China. They also hired five full-time production managers to be on-site in China to ensure product is made properly. They also changed some of their manufaturing processes to also ensure QC is not the issue it has been.
Toyotero
Explorer
I'm glad to hear it... I like their designs.