Keen Utility San Jose Oxford (Aluminum Toe) Work Shoe
As a tool reviewer, I get to write about all these cool and innovative tools to help us contractors get the job done. What often gets lost in translation is work clothing and footwear like the Keen San Jose Oxford Work Shoe.
I recently started wearing the KEEN Utility San Jose Oxford as an everyday shoe for work. I’m a fan of low-rise work shoes in all but the worst weather or when I’m framing. I just like the lighter show on my feet, I feel that I fatigue less with them.
No Break In Needed
Shortly after receiving the San Jose Oxford work shoes I left for the World of Concrete trade show where I logged 10,000 to 14,000 steps a day over three days. While my feet were tired at the end of the day I was impressed at how comfortable the shoe was prior to breaking them in.
Clean Lines
The San Jose Oxford has a soft-toe style look but with an aluminum safety toe. For me, the safety toe is a must on any job site. The San Jose looks more like a dress shoe, than a work shoe and looks great with jeans walking around town.
Notable Features
The shoes have an air-infused LuftCell midsole, and oil- and-slip-resistant rubber outsole that grips well. The all-leather upper looks and feels like an old-style “work boot” that I grew up with.
In the typical KEEN fashion, Oxford work shoes have left and right asymmetrical aluminum toes weighing 35% less than steel toes.
These San Jose Oxford work shoes perfectly bridge the gap between board meetings and floor meetings.
The San Jose Oxfords offer an Electrical hazard (EH) or Electric Shock Resistant (ESR) protection, which is a secondary source of protection in case of accidentally coming into contact with a live electrical circuit. While I don’t spend much time on ladders anymore I do appreciate that the San Jose Oxfords have a nylon shank for midfoot support. These embedded shanks relieve tension by reducing the load on your arches, and legs. They’re also useful when standing for long periods on the rung of a ladder. Shanks also help you keep your balance on uneven terrain, and maintain the shape of the boot over time.
Overall Impression
So far so good, I have approximately 200,000 steps and hours of standing in these work shoes and find them to be good-looking and comfortable. These shoes sell for approximately $150.00 online here I often hear people complain about the price, I’m hard on work shoes, I wear them every day, and am lucky to get a year out of them. So I like to look at what I get for that investment, at $150 for pair of work shoes, that amortizes to approximately .40 cents a day. Still, seem pricy?