I’ve been wearing KEEN Utility’s Detroit Low ESD Soft Toe work shoes for more than 4 months now, in rain, shine, fog, and light snow. It’s been a very long time since my feet have had it this good. I’ve been wearing conventional leather boots of several brands for a good many years but lately they have not served me well. Their lack of durability and comfort sparked my interest in boots featuring composites and leather and a clear use of some higher tech. And something snazzier-looking, too. When KEEN Utility offered to send me a pair of my choice for review, I was glad to accept.
I chose the ankle-high Davenports for their similar form to what I’d been wearing, and their waterproofing and safety toes. I like them a lot, but I found that the KEEN sizes run a bit smaller than my other footwear. Over time my feet began to complain, so I got a second pair of KEENs a half size larger, these Detroits. The half size made all the difference I needed. Now I want another pair of the Davenports in a larger size!
These Detroits have leather uppers, a soft toe and ESD construction. A description from KEEN’s web site: “This work shoe is stable and supportive, but agile and flexible as well. ESD construction reduces that static electricity issue—a must in flammable or clean-room environments. Innovative features deliver outdoor shoe performance that works hard without weighing you down.”
I don’t need to worry about static electricity and the workshop is anything but a “clean room”, but I appreciate the light weight, waterproofing and the suppleness on the concrete floor and in the outdoors. My first pair of KEENs suffered shoestring failure early on. They didn’t break, but skinned themselves into uselessness. The strings on the Detroits are still going strong.
I ordinarily don’t wear deep-treaded work shoes because they so often retain dirt and deposit it in inconvenient places like newly finished floors and carpet. Although these have an aggressive tread, they haven’t embarrassed me that way. The Detroit Soles show no signs of wear after four months. The accompanying photo is of the soles before I wore them, but they look much the same now.
In the past, the first places to show wear on my work shoes were the toes. A lot of my work is done kneeling with the toes hard against rough plywood, gravel, asphalt paving or concrete, so they get scraped up pretty quickly. The toes on the Davenports and Detroits are holding up nicely; the slightly textured surface has worn smooth in places, but there are no scuff marks or tears.
Now that I have personal experience with KEEN Utility boots, I don’t hesitate to recommend them. I’m looking forward to seeing how they hold up, and will update this post in another four months and beyond. I’ve been told by other wearers that I will still be impressed well into the future.
-dvl
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