Keen Footwear has unveiled a proprietary manufacturing process that uses agricultural waste to create what it claims to be the industry’s first sneakers with plant-based soles made without chemical solvents. The “Field to Foot” (F2F) sneakers are part of the Detox The Planet initiative and were developed by the Keen Advanced Concepts team. The first models – the men’s Eldon sneaker and the women’s Elsa V sneaker – were unveiled in the U.S. in limited quantities on Sept. 30 at www.keenfootwear.com. The collection also introduces Keen’s “unbox,” which uses approximately 63 percent less cardboard than a traditional shoe box and is 100 percent biodegradable. “F2F, using advanced polyurethane sustainable technologies, is the most significant environmental technology launch in Keen’s history. Combined with the pilot of Keen’s ‘un-box,’ this collection is a meaningful step toward setting a new industry standard for sustainable footwear,” said Steve Workman, senior director of global product innovations. Keen has been researching and working with harvested waste materials in footwear since 2007. It took the brand two years to develop the F2F technology. It worked with Huntsman Polyurethane to develop and test the plant-based compounds.

Topics