Our little love affair with KEEN has been pretty highly documented at this point, and just when we think we can’t like them anymore, they pull another great release out the bag.
This time it comes in the format of a collaboration with Engineered Garments, and the only complaint we’ve got is that they haven’t merged the two brand names anywhere, but don’t worry, we have on the title of this post.
The efforts of the two brands come unsurprisingly in the format of a shoe, but the story of how the shoe came to be is actually quite surprising. Apparently, Engineered Garments founder, Daiki Suzuki, has long been a fan of KEEN’s WK400 walking shoe model, and it would often be his choice of footwear when wandering around Manhattan in the night-time. With Daiki being safety-minded, he customised his WK400 with reflectors so he could be easily spotted by New York taxis and other kinds of loud beeping vehicles we imagine you get there.
KEEN caught wind of his customised WK400’s and loved the idea of them so much, that they approached the brand for a collaboration, to which Suzuki enthusiastically agreed. The result of the duo’s work is a piece of footwear specifically engineered to take on late-night walks in the busy city. This has been done by kitting out two pairs of the WK400, one with a reflective New York cityscape, and the other with more subtle reflective detailing, both making sure that you’re easily spottable, wherever you end up, on a Saturday night stroll through SoHo.
The essence of the collaboration has also been captured through imagery that’s been shot in some of the Big Apple’s most recognisable locations.
The KEENgineered garments WK400 is available to purchase from Nepenthes here.
