footwear founded alameda california 2003 2003 headquarters portland oregon 2006 u.s. 45 31 47 n 122 41 03 w 45.5298 n 122.6841 w 45.5298 ; 122.6841 coordinates 45 31 47 n 122 41 03 w 45.5298 n 122.6841 w 45.5298 ; 122.6841 key people rory fuerst owner products shoes and boots revenue est 240 million 2011 number of employees 100 website keenfootwear.com keen is an american shoe manufacturing company based in portland oregon . founded in 2003 1 by martin keen and rory fuerst their shoes are now available in more than a thousand retail locations in the united states and are distributed worldwide . 2 contents 1 history 2 see also 3 references 4 external links history edit the first keen shoes were invented to develop a sandal that could also protect the toes they feature a signature thick black bumper covering the toes . they found a ready market in sailing and other outdoor and water activities . keen footwear now offers shoes for many outdoor activities as well as casual shoes . keen has been a fast growing company since its inception . the company was named 2003 s launch of the year by the shoe industry s leading trade publication footwear news which also identified it as a hot brand to watch . 3 as keen has grown there have been many changes including the addition of a variety of footwear styles to their previous assortment growing their casual business quickly adding cold weather footwear and a line of bags and socks . in early 2006 the company relocated its headquarters from alameda california to portland oregon . 2 at the same time kirk richardson joined the company as its president after a 27 year career in management at nearby nike inc. 4 later in the year tommy l a well known advocate for casual sandal wearing agreed to sign a sponsorship deal with keen and began to endorse the company . as of october 2008 richardson is leading keen s corporate social responsibility efforts and james curleigh joined the company as ceo 5 after 12 years as ceo at salomon sports north america . in reaction to the 2004 asian tsunami keen took their marketing budget and donated it in total to relief efforts . 6 this gesture turned into their long term hybrid.care program where they partner with organizations whose vision they share including the conservation alliance 1 kg more leave no trace and big city mountaineers . in 2009 the 100 employee company had estimated sales of 130 to 140 million . 1 the company opened a plant in portland in 2010 to begin manufacturing some of their products in the united states . 1 for 2011 revenue had grown to approximately 240 million . 7 keen bought the pearl building in portland s pearl district for 10.8 million to serve as company headquarters and host a retail store . 7 8 see also edit list of companies based in oregon references edit a b c brettman allan december 11 2010 . keen counters conventional wisdom returns some manufacturing to portland . the oregonian . retrieved 12 december 2010 . a b brevetti francine february 7 2006 . keen footwear to leave alameda . the oakland tribune . retrieved october 16 2008 . dead link rifkin glenn march 4 2004 . these shoes are really keen . the boston globe . retrieved 2008 10 16 . murphy todd july 25 2006 . strength comes in numbers . the portland tribune . retrieved 2008 10 21 . julie atherton mcfadden march 10 2008 . keen inc. appoints james curleigh to the executive team as president & ceo . outdoor industry association . retrieved 2008 10 21 . keen footwear website . retrieved 2008 10 16 . a b brettman allan february 28 2012 . it will be only five blocks but keen s new headquarters show how far the company has traveled . the oregonian . retrieved february 28 2012 . culverwell wendy february 28 2012 . keen footwear to make pearl building its home . portland business journal . retrieved february 28 2012 . external links edit keen official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title keen shoe company & oldid 715353049 categories companies established in 2003companies based in alameda californiacompanies based in portland oregonshoe companies of the united statesprivately held companies based in oregonhidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from october 2010coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 15 april 2016 at 07 40 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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