I have owned 4 pairs of Keens work boots, a  period of years. I recently purchased a pair of their California boots, and this is the current state of their design, manufacturing-- and their Company's INTEGRITY. Let me also say that over the years I thought theirs was a quality product. Here is why i no longer believe that:

The second time I laced them on, the grommet at the top of the lace panel broke, simply by applying light pressure from the lace. That small manufacturing flaw meant the boots could never lace again properly. THE MAJOR DESIGN FLAW  ( I have an engineering background, and in a 34 year career have designed products across a wide range, so I KNOW about Design...) is simply that every boot has a tongue, and that tongue is connected to the boot securely by a gusset, which holds the tongue in place under the laces-- and also prevents water from entering the boot and soaking your foot. The designer of this shoe, forgot all about that, as did the company's design supervisor. This boot got made on a totally LOUSY  design. The tongue flops around under the laces like mad, and water enters freely.

We just got done with a big hurricane in  my town, and I have spent 6 consecutive days, 12 hours/ day on average, on different cleanup assignment. The 2 days on which I wore these boots ( you need to rotate your boots under wear and work...) -- well, on those 2 days my feet got soaked. After the first time, i applied weatherproof goo, highly effective at waterproofing leather. After the second day of totally wet feet, I made another  discovery-- the boots actually leaked water through the top of the synthetic sole, rightn where it attached to  the leather. This is an enormous quality control flaw.

So, with these plain facts I called the company's Customer Service ( I have contacted them 3 times in the past week) asking them for a return  authorization ( Amazon, LlL Bean-- any company with any integrity-- would do this instantly. But Keen flat out Refused-- and the customer service person was extremely snide, and had a thick, in my opinion conceited and lazy-- ATTITUDE. To date, I have had no response whatsoever-- from 3 follow-up emails.

To may knowledge, the hurricane did not strike Portland, Oregon. What did seem to strike Portland was a complete refusal to take any responsibility to badly flawed desig, third-rate materials, no quality control in Manufacturing, and a Corporate stone wall. I define responsibilty very simply: it is, precisely, the ability to Respond. Again, I have heard NOTHING  from Keen, not even a request to me to send the boots back so they might actually learn something about the current state of their product. Nada. Zilch. Nothing....

Whoever is the current president of this company should take notice, and be ashamed-- and take some damned responsibilty. This is an EXPENSIVE product. It needs to perform, forbthe money spent if for no other reason.

So, these are facts and you should take warning. A once strong company that once made a good product, and stood behind it -- has turned mediocre, third rate (probably Chinese) manufacture-- and like a big chunk of corporate America-- really could give a small pile of excrement where their customers are concerned. I give you facts, be warned. Look elsewhere now for some integrity and design.