These Shoes Are Made For Walking: KEEN’s New Footwear

Over half of Americans prefer walking to any other form of transportation. But KEEN-led research conducted by Aura Nelson revealed that less than one-third wear shoes intended for walking. Today, KEEN Footwear announces its release of the first shoe designed specifically for walking. The company spent three years and over 50,000 miles designing and testing the new footwear.

KEEN originally launched in 2003 with the Newport water sandal—affectionately known to many people as “the ugliest sandal in the world.” It was designed to protect toes while sailing. KEEN has since grown into a global company with an emphasis on sustainability, making comfortable, high performance footwear that lasts.

Rory Fuerst, Jr. is the director of innovation at KEEN. It was his personal experience with the healing powers of walking that inspired him to make a walking shoe. A few years ago, he suffered a traumatic skiing accident that left him unable to walk for several months. He soon found himself depressed and in a deep fog. As an accomplished athlete, he had never considered walking important, but two months into recovery, he discovered that walking brought him out of his fog.

Fuerst decided to design a shoe for KEEN that would revolutionize walking footwear. “The WK400 makes walking feel like rolling,” he says. “I am inspired to help other people experience the benefits from walking that I did. Walking literally saved my life.”

You might say that shoes run in the family for Fuerst. His father started a company when he was in his early 20s resoling athletic footwear. “Before that, people resoled dress shoes, but they would throw away their athletic shoes. My dad thought that was a waste, so he figured out how to resole athletic shoes. From there, he started designing and manufacturing shoes for the top brands, and eventually he started KEEN,” said Fuerst in an exclusive interview for Forbes.

Bringing this shoe to market was a challenge. Technically, the WK400 was created by conducting a great deal of prototyping and testing. With the help of long-time friend Ciro Fusco, who has a Ph.D. in physics and environmental science, Fuerst discovered that the legs act as a pendulum when walking — a pattern different from a runner’s stride. So the new KEEN walking shoe has curve geometry, underfoot plate technology, and a high-energy midsole to make walking feel like rolling, while also aiding stability.

That said, getting people to believe in walking is one of the greatest challenges Fuerst has faced in his career. “I don’t blame anybody because before my accident I didn’t get it either,” he says. “But the world is a wild place right now, and I firmly believe that if everyone just walked a little more, it might be a little less wild.”

KEEN also has been working hard to reduce the impact footwear has on the planet, which has been equally challenging. Fuerst has fought to remove toxic PFAs, the so-called “Forever Chemicals” from the company’s shoes since 2018. KEEN is one of the first brands to remove all PFAs from its products, and is challenging other footwear brands to join them in becoming PFA-free by 2025. “Much of the shoe industry continues to use them to this day. We need to be vigilant and strong willed,” says Fuerst.

The reward, Fuerst says, is knowing that KEEN is making people’s lives better. “We take pride in making comfortable shoes that last for ten years or more. We also take pride in reducing the impact that shoe making has on the planet.”

“I think life is our purpose,” Fuerst says. “We are here to live life and ideally have rich and meaningful experiences. My ski accident gave me a completely different perspective. I wanted to find a way for everyone to experience the power of walking and the best way I could do that was to develop a shoe that makes people want to walk more. To make it more fun. I’m not sure I ever would have embarked on this product journey if it weren’t for my personal experience.”