When you think about the important parts of work boots, things like safety toes, durable leather uppers, and comfortable cushioning immediately come to mind. But some of the most important features are often overlooked — the work boot outsoles that connect you to the ground.
Just like there are different types of pliers for different tasks, there are different types of outsoles for different jobsites. KEEN Utility offers work boot outsoles with different shapes, tread patterns, and formulations. Our options include wedge, 90°, athletic, hybrid, lugged, EH-rated, and ESD-rated options. So, which type of outside is best for your workday? Read on to find out.
Wedge Outsole
You’ll find wedge outsoles on some of our heavier-duty boots. Since there’s an unbroken contact patch from heel to toe, wedge soles offer excellent support and traction on flat, hard surfaces like steel beams or concrete. The Cincinnati and San Jose collections both feature wedge outsole options.
Ideal jobs for wedge sole work boots:
• Construction
• Fabrication
90° Outsole
90° outsoles are identified by their distinct, raised heel block. The front edge usually meets the rest of the outsole at a 90° angle, hence the name. This heel block adds additional traction on soft surfaces because it “bites” into things like sand, mud, and snow. It also provides extra safety on ladders, as it prevents your foot from sliding forward and off a ladder rung. Find 90° heel options in many of our collections, including Skokie and Liberty.
Ideal jobs for boots with 90° outsoles:
• Construction
• Landscaping
• Mineral Extraction
• Excavation
KEEN.WET TRAX Outsole
The KEEN.WET TRAX outsole is flat, with lots of sipes and channels. These help disperse water quickly and enhance ground contact.
Sipes are small slits or cuts in the surface of the outsole, which help create more edges, which in turn help create more “bite.” You’ll find sipes on boat shoes, too. If they’re good enough for maintaining secure footing on the wet, pitching deck of a ship, they’re more than enough to add traction on the wet, slippery floors of your jobsite. You’ll find KEEN.WET TRAX outsoles in our PTC and Kenton collections (look for “WTX” in the product name).
Ideal jobs for work shoes with KEEN.WET TRAX outsole:
• Service Industry
• Foodservice Delivery
• Production Kitchen
• Light Industrial
Athletic Outsole
Our athletic outsoles are substantially similar to the ones found on sport shoes. Look closely at the outsole on the Kenton Mid or the Gibson. Notice the pivot point? That’s a feature found in basketball shoes, too. Located directly under the ball of the foot, it allows for smooth, quick turns. Our lightweight work sneakers, like the Vista Energy and Speedworks, are built with the same type of sole you’d find on a cross-trainer.
Ideal jobs for footwear with athletic outsoles:
• Warehouse
• Carpentry
• Truck Driving
• Delivery
• Production Line
Hybrid Outsole
Hybrid outsoles strike a nice balance between smooth-surface grip and rough-surface traction. They feature flatter areas closer to the center, and lugs around the perimeter. If you have the type of job that requires working on a wide variety of surfaces, a hybrid outsole like the one found on the Louisville or Reno would be a good choice.
Ideal jobs for work boots with hybrid outsoles:
• Site-to-Office
• Engineering
• Carpentry
Lugged Outsole
The “mud terrain tire” of the work footwear world. Lugged outsoles provide the most grip outside, whether that’s on dirt, mud, grass, rock, or snow. We carefully design our lug spacing for the most versatility: Close enough together for even grip on flat surfaces, yet far enough apart to prevent clogging with muck. Find lugged outsoles on boots like the Targhee IV Work or the Camden.
Ideal jobs for boots with lugged outsoles:
• Construction
• Landscaping
• Mineral Extraction
• Excavation
EH-Rated and ESD-Rated Outsoles
EH and ESD outsoles both protect against electrical charges, but do so in different ways. Here’s a quick overview, but be sure to read this article for more details.
EH-rated outsoles act as an insulator, preventing electricity from passing through. This is particularly important if you accidentally come into contact with a live electrical circuit. A majority of the boots, shoes, and sneakers we build come with EH-rated outsoles.
ESD-rated outsoles do the opposite. They’re conductive, so as your body accumulates static electricity over the course of a workday, they’ll allow this charge to dissipate harmlessly to ground. Choose an ESD-rated outsole when you work in electronics assembly, aerospace, or in potentially volatile environments where an errant spark could be hazardous.
Choosing the right work boot outsole can have a big effect on your safety, comfort, and productivity on the jobsite. Whether you need the flat-surface support of a wedge outsole, the additional grip of a 90° heel, the wet-floor traction of KEEN.WET TRAX, the sport-inspired grip of an athletic outsole, the all-terrain confidence of a lugged design, or the protection of an EH or ESD-rated formulation, KEEN Utility has an option to match your tasklist. An outsole is your foundation at work, and picking the right one helps you build better workdays from the ground up.
