Oh Keen, why are you breaking my heart? I love this style. Very cute and retro. Well made, good materials. Not enough toe room. Good footbed with cushion and some arch support. Big problem: Look carefully at the back of the shoe from the side - it is designed to strip the flesh from the back of your heel. Not only is it too high and made of stiff material that will never give. It is hard and fairly thin with no padding and it curves inward almost an inch. Who has a heel shaped like that? When Keens first came out they were my salvation from a lifetime of smushed toes. I would have been a customer for life. Bummer that Keen has not kept the old design (Bronx) while adding so many new shapes. Now either the toe box is too narrow or the heel is a blister making torture device or both. And my last 2 pairs of Keens lasted less than 6 months, a fraction of the time my first 2 pairs have.

I absolutely love the way these shoes look. They are retro and awesome and beautifully made. And despite looking like a flat, unsupportive sneaker, they are very reasonably comfortable. I did have to fiddle with them a little to get them to work for me -- namely, as another reviewer experienced, my heel on my right foot developed a painful spot where the back of the shoe was rubbing. I experience this in so many shoes, though, that I know this is easy enough to fix. There are small adhesive inserts you can buy pretty much anywhere they sell shoes which are for the purpose of preventing your heel from slipping out. Place one of these in the area the shoe is rubbing and voila. Despite that minor niggle, I still love these shoes. I wear them daily and will probably have to buy another pair once they wear out. And of course, as always, Zappos shipping and customer service are beyond awesome.

I work at a preschool, so I need shoes that are comfortable to wear for eight hours on your feet, strong enough to have their toes scraped against industrial carpet 100 times a day as I get up and down, and light enough and treaded enough to run or climb easily. Almost all keens hit the spot, but Arcata is cute, too, with no bobble toe! I had a pair of the cloth Arcata, and they were the most comfortable sneakers that I have ever owned. When I finally wore a hole in the toe I thought I would try out the leather ones. They took a bit longer to break in, but now that I have softened them up a little they are super comfortable. I liked the styling of the cloth ones a bit more, though. But I am hoping that these ones will hold up a bit longer.

I was looking for a shoe with a "wide toe box" because of a neuroma problem. Keen shoes seemed to offer that. After wearing these and other Keen styles, the problems associated with the neuroma have almost disappeared. The fact that the shoe is a lace-up allows for adjustment in the fit, but the heel is a little wide for my foot, causing some slipping. Overall, it is lightweight and works better than other brands I have tried. Love Zappos, process of finding the right shoe involved some returns and re-orders, but they made it easy!

Nice sneaker. Wide enough to wear orthotics comfortably. Without inserts not much arch support. One of few woman Keens that is true to size. Love the colors available.