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Japan, Tokyo
1 Level
719 Review
98 Karma

Review on πŸ‘Ÿ KEEN Men's Austin Brindle Bungee: Stylish and Comfortable Footwear for Active Men by Mike Rajput

Revainrating 4 out of 5

A Tale of Two Shoes

I first bought a pair of these Keen shoes locally at an expensive travel store. I love this style and I love my USA made Keen Durands. The build quality was excellent and the leather quality was excellent. After wearing it at home for a few hours, I noticed that the size is very large. I wear Birk and Keens clogs and I know what to expect from oversized shoes. But they were definitely 1/2 size larger than US shoe sizes. I should have bought EU size instead of 45. I went back to the store to exchange them and when I was presented with a size 11.5 I immediately noticed a big difference in quality. The leather had poor finishes, the build quality didn't have the same attention to detail anywhere, and the shoe appeared to be of significantly lower quality overall. The rep checked several pairs of stock Austins and we found that there were actually two very different levels. Quality. I ordered a second pair of 11.5 inch shoes from Revain hoping they would be of better quality but unfortunately Revain stock and ship a lower quality pair. Aside from the quality of the leather, the difference is easy to spot just by lifting the panels. The more premium version has a very nice stretchy yellow foam sole, while the cheaper version uses a hardened polyester material. It seems to me that Keen uses a few suppliers to make these shoes. It's just a shame that one is good and the other bad. I add comparison photos. It was very difficult to capture the smooth, waxy skin and rough skin of the cheesy couple. Note that I called Keane and they didn't help me much. They instructed me to return the shoes to their retailer and instead order from their website where they were unable to offer any help ordering a higher quality version of the shoe. Update 6/3/19 For the update I returned both 11.5 and 12. 11.5 fitted better but was still too bulky. Also, the hard heel liner was chafing on my heel and making life miserable. I ended up buying Ecco Espinhos and I still love them. Much better build quality, lighter weight and tighter toe fit. For me there are no more Kins, except Durans.

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