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November 20th, 2009 by KEEN

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Glacier 058

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Keens2

View feet forward

My Keens

Jump Gos

Bench Monday: Hose Nozzle Edition

28 - October - 2009 -- Dead Shoes

keens+hiking socks

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You Can Help Distribute Bikes to Orphans in Ghana, India, Nepal and Vietnam

November 18th, 2009 by Linda

Dear Friends:

There are 27 million slaves in the world today, many of them children. For kids rescued from slavery, their journey toward independence and healing is arduous. This year, 88bikes honors the heroism of these children by launching a multi-country endowment.  In early 2010, 88bikes will travel to Ghana, India, Nepal and Vietnam, endowing orphanages, ashrams, centers and schools sheltering children rescued from human trafficking. The Moment of Happy will occur in January, 2010 at more than a dozen sites throughout the world. 300+ children will receive a bicycle and the training to maintain it.

88bikes is partnering with Free The Slaves and Touch A Life, two non-profit organizations dedicated to the eradication of slavery. A bike is that magical vessel of freedom and fun, the rare tool as useful as it is enjoyable. For these children–as all children–a bike will provide joy, freedom and autonomy. A bike will help each child get to school and explore her world. At certain locations 88bikes will set up on-site bike shops and sponsor in-depth bike repair apprenticeships. Every kid should have a bike!

You can support 88bikes Project4 by making a donation anytime at 88bikes.org. The cost of a bike is 88 dollars and it is totally tax-deductible. As every year, we’ll ask you to submit a photo of yourself, or the person in whose name the bike is donated, to give to your sponsored child, along with the bike. We’ll send you a packet in early 2010 with a picture of your sponsored child on her new bike holding your picture. If you’d like to buy the bike as a gift, you can print out a gift card at 88bikes.org. I am also happy to send along a handwritten 88bikes post card to your friend, introducing her to the project.

As always, 100% of every donation goes directly to the children. We don’t take salaries or keep office space and all project participants are volunteers. Jared and I will personally deliver the bikes to every location. Nick and several volunteers may join us for one or more legs of the journey.

Thanks for supporting 88bikes! As always, please drop me a note (dan@88bikes.org) if you have any questions. I’ll be thrilled to hear from you.

With enthusiasm,

Dan, Jared and Nick

88bikes.org


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Cycling-Specific Shoes, Bags and Socks: Interbike Vendor Spotlight on KEEN

November 18th, 2009 by KEEN

We presented our Spring/Summer ‘10 Pedal Collection at the Interbike tradeshow this past September. 

Bike World News recently posted a review of our cycling-specific shoes, bags and socks.  Our new Spring/Summer ‘10 pedal styles will be available in January 2010.

Click here to read the Bike World News review of these products.

Pedal Footwear

keen-austin

KEEN_presidio

KEEN_coronado

Cycling Socks

KEEN_springwater

Bike-Ready Bags

KEEN_steel_bridge

KEEN_commuter

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What’s Next for Chris Waddell and One Revolution?

November 17th, 2009 by Linda

One Revolution is Waddell's motto for this expedition, and his life. "One revolution means so many things to me. One revolution of the handcycle, one revolution of the earth, one lifetime, one moment, one chance to make a difference." One Revolution is also the name of the documentary which will capture Waddell's journey to the summit of Kilimanjaro. "The documentary is an important part of my climb, as my story is a visual one. People need to see to understand," explains Waddell.

Hello All,

What’s next? I guess climbing a 19,000-foot mountain begs that question and I intend to answer it, but first thank you all for following our efforts. It was so cool to get your emails and posts of encouragement. I am totally blown away by the number of you that followed us. I apologize for disappearing for a couple of days. There was no attempt to heighten the drama. We just lost of cell and satellite service in the crater. I’m sorry if any of you worried for our wellbeing.

This project started because I thought we could create social change about the way that we see ourselves and others. My platform is physical disability, but I hope it extends to include all of us who feel limited by what we or other people think. In September we made it to the top of the mountain, but we’ve barely scratched surface on creating social change. The answer to what’s next: hopefully a lot. Hopefully, we take our mission of “visibility and opportunity” to locations around the world the way that we did with Kili, but we have to finish this job first.

We plan to grow “Mobility Revolution”, our wheelchair and handcycle donation program. We’re still working on these parts. On the film side, we have shot 200 hours of footage, which needs to be cut into a 90-minute feature length documentary. Through that visual medium, we can capitalize on the momentum from the climb to create social change. It’s all about the “mo,” which is why I’ve been totally crazy since I returned from Africa.

On the flight home, I stopped in New York City to attend the Sports Legend Dinner for the Bunoconti Foundation. Later in the week I spoke to a group at Unicef and then did a press conference for the Utah press at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. October brought me to New Orleans for a presentation to TEAMS 2009, then to San Diego for the Challenged Athletes Foundation annual Triathlon and three Nametags presentations to La Jolla Country Day, then back to the East Coast for a day with ESPN (Firstake, News, and a Newsmakers presentation) in Bristol, and a trip to Boulder, Colorado for meetings with Warren Miller Entertainment about the film and possible partnerships. At the end of November I head to Monaco for Sports for Peace Conference hosted by Prince Albert.

Needless to say, it’s been crazy, but we did the climb to create a buzz—to hopefully get people to notice us and they have. We’ve done a ton of press, both local and National. I have also partnered with New York Times Best Selling Author, Don Yeager to write my story. We’re exploring alternate possibilities for the film such as creating a tour to take it and our Nametags presentation to communities throughout the country as soon as next fall. This would be in addition to film festivals and hopefully network television. Our biggest goal is to reach as many people as possible. The tour also represents a greater opportunity for sponsorship to help finish the film.

Next steps: We need to raise money and sponsorship to finish a rough cut for the film. We need to put together a tour, figure out partnerships, get a publisher for the book, and really make the change that we intend. It’s a lot of work, but the climb gives us a ton of momentum.

Thanks for your continued support and I hope you’ll continue to follow the Blog,

Chris Waddell

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J the Travel Authority’s ‘More Packing Tips’ Take on Pearl Bag

November 17th, 2009 by Chris

[0408_BWGG_F.jpg]Here’s an expert from J the Travel Authority blog review of the Pearl bag:

This week, I tested this messenger-type bag because I had a lot of networking and workshop events, some all day and others at night, that required me to walk around a trade show floor and meet and greet a ton of people while collecting their business cards, giving them mine, taking notes of our meetings and then running to the next meeting or cocktail party where I had to transform into the non-itinerant journalist who would be sipping a glass of Chardonnay at, among other places, the Norwegian Consul General’s residence here in Manhattan.

The Pearl was perfect. When I slung it across my back, I found a zipper compartment — great for pens, business cards and small notebooks — on the left side of the pack (on my back side) but easily accessible while it was still on my back. And, the location prohibited any subway thieves from infiltrating this pocket. Quite an accomplishment. In addition, I stuffed my cell phone into the mesh stretch pocket along the strap, making it also very easy to grab.

To read the entire review, click here.

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Catching up with STAND Grand Prize Winner Leslie Freeman of Wild Science Explorers

November 16th, 2009 by Carie

Fly fishing schoolThe Hybrid.Stand contest was a KEEN initiative in 2008 that awarded $150,000 to fund different innovative ideas centered on sustainability. There were three overall categories, Stand Up, Stand Out and Stand For, each having a grand prize of $25,000 and 5 runner-up prizes in the amount of $5,000.

Leslie Freeman was one of three grand prize winners; she won $25,000 to put towards her non-profit organization, Wild Science Explorers. Established in 2000, Wild Science Explorers is an organization which offers river-based science courses providing children with hands-on learning. The organization tries to focus on serving the needs of low income youth who normally would not have the opportunity to participate in such types of activities

The outdoors become their classroom as participants take a 3-6 day paddle trip down the Salmon and Snake Rivers where they study various things including fisheries, stream ecology, water quality and botany, to name a few.

This is what Leslie had to say about how the STAND Award helped Wild Science Explorers:

“The KEEN award has made an incredible difference in the day to day operations of Wild Science Explorers. The award enabled the purchase of all the gear necessary to go down the river. Now that we don’t have to borrow or rent gear, we can focus more on program delivery. This year, we created a unit that integrated fly fishing and aquatic insect ecology in addition to the activities we already do on fire ecology, noxious weeds, Native American history, and geology.

Paddle Boat

KEEN funds resulted in the purchase of two fully outfitted oar boats, a trailer to haul our gear, a paddleboat and all sorts of river camp equipment. Our program is more sustainable in the long-term because of KEEN. This year our trips went incredibly well—the participants had an amazing time and did a myriad of different activities. We worked with youth from the Boys and Girls Club, Boise Parks and Recreation, Teens Restoring Earth’s Environment and several Boise area high schools and junior highs.”

 

To learn more about Wild Science Explorers, please visit www.wildexplorers.org.

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Bagel Friday at the Office with a Hybrid.Care Twist

November 13th, 2009 by KEEN

Every Friday we have a bagel breakfast for the entire office.  This Friday we did something a bit different…raising $2,000 for charities near and dear to KEEN employees.

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KEEN Japan World Cup 2009 - Highlights of Freestyle Kayak Competition

November 13th, 2009 by Steph

Here is some great footage of the KEEN Japan World Cup 2009, which took place in Toyama.

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No Wedding Complete Without KEEN

November 13th, 2009 by KEEN

KEEN Fan - Wedding Day

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My KEEN Story on Robinson Crusoe Island

November 12th, 2009 by Chris

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From: Stefan Springman
Subject: My Keen Story

Dear KEEN,

I’ve been having some foot issues that have recently forced me to give up running and bought a pair of KEENs [called the Alyeska] to wear around the house while my foot heels. I’m a documentary producer/director and was a bit worried about how my foot would fair while working on a project I’m producing for The History Channel on a remote island in the Pacific called Robinson Crusoe Island (Really!). My crew is young and tough and we would be spending long days humping heavy gear over rugged mountains and I was worried about whether I could keep up. I threw my KEENs in my backpack at the last minute thinking I could use ‘em to give my ol’ dogs a rest around the campfire at night. But after a few days of climbing around El Yunque — my expensive Italian climbing boots became a pair of torture devices and I was forced to switch to my KEEN slippers even for some quite hairy rock climbing. I just wanted to write to you and say the KEENs were great! My foot pain went away and I didn’t fall off the mountain (or even come close).

Stefan Springman
NFGTV

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