Some of the components used to make the shoes have been delivered to an assembly plant in Portland, USA. Here, a combination of machinery and manual labor, through processes such as forging, welding, cutting, trimming, and polishing, can produce hundreds or even thousands of pairs of shoes every day.
KEEN is a popular American casual footwear brand, with its headquarters and factory located in Portland. As is well known, many of the components used to manufacture its shoes are sourced from abroad. Here, many unfinished shoes are adorned with “Made in USA” flags to highlight the significant advantage of this product.
KEEN’s headquarters is based in Portland, and the company takes pride in being a local manufacturer that provides numerous job opportunities for residents. You might think the “Made in USA” label isn’t entirely fitting for it—indeed, the Federal Trade Commission has also advised the company to reconsider how to better align its product labeling.
In short, government regulations prohibit companies from using the “made in [a place]” designation unless “all or virtually all” of the product’s components are sourced domestically. (For more details, refer to the Consumer Protection Bureau’s “Criteria for ‘Made in USA’ Claims.”)
For example, products like shoes — made up of dozens of materials, from sewing thread to eyelets for laces to rubber soles — it’s difficult or almost impossible to source all components domestically.
Most of the shoes worn by Americans are produced overseas. But consumers are concerned about the difficulty of seeing the origin of products branded as made in the U.S. manufacturing sector.
“Manufacturing products in our Portland factory is part of our brand’s long-term development strategy,” said Linda Balfour, KEEN’s director of marketing. Additionally, the company has noted that having its product line based domestically allows for greater flexibility in responding to market demands at every stage — from design improvements and product testing to shipping logistics.
This week I visited KEEN’s production factory in Portland. The factory is located on the edge of the city, filled with assembly lines and robotic arms, where I saw articulated robotic arms holding and grinding the edges of shoes.
The workers here bring some life to the machinery-filled factory. When there are production tasks for shoes and boots, up to 35 workers may be on-site. The company estimates that its 38,000-square-foot factory will soon reach an annual shoe production of one million pairs.
I watched workers assembling a pair of boots — the company’s newly released Durand WP. The five main parts of these boots are supplied from overseas factories, including the separate outsole and uppers.
The insoles, supportive cores, and laces are individual components. However, the system consisting of heating chambers, conveyor belts, shoe lasts, grinders, and rotary injection stations can produce a pair of Durand WP boots in just 20 minutes.
KEEN promotes certain steps in the boot-making process at its U.S. factory as unique, including a polyurethane injection process primarily used to quickly and securely bond the upper and sole together.
The company sources a special type of polyurethane from a U.S. supplier, which is believed to perform better than the polyurethane used in midsole foams. (KEEN confirmed that this type of polyurethane is lighter, softer, and more elastic than traditional polyurethane materials.)
I tried on a freshly produced pair of Durand WP boots and could still feel the warmth of the polyurethane in the soles as I walked a short distance around the factory.
One worker was shaping the shoes with a hammer. Another was manually trimming the edges of the shoes with a knife.
By U.S. Federal Trade Commission standards, the shoes here aren’t “manufactured.” But there’s no doubt that KEEN and its American workers are “assembling” them.
―Stephen Regenold, author of this article and founder of GearJunkie