In my quest to find the best travel shoes, KEEN was kind enough to send me a pair of Verona Mary Jane women’s shoes to review. They’re cute, comfortable, and make excellent travel shoes.
What I Like
Comfort and Arch Support
The Verona’s are extremely comfortable. They flex well and the arch support is better than average for a pair of Mary Janes, but not outstanding.
Strap
The top strap will keep your foot from slipping. (My feet tend to slip out of a lot of shoes.) An awesome feature is that the strap is padded! That’s right, there is padding on the strap to keep you from getting blisters.
Toe Protector
The scuff protector on the front of the toe means that you can take on all your regular travel activities – from hiking to running after a bus to climbing super steep stairs – without having to worry about ruining the front of your shoes.
The Company
KEEN as a company is very green. They have a number of shoes that are made from recycled materials. (Though the Verona Mary Jane’s are not.)
Room for Improvement
There are only two things that keep me from naming these the best travel shoe of all time. (I have yet to find those shoes…) 1) For crappy weather I never like wearing leather shoes as I worry about ruining them. 2) For my feet I could have used a little more arch support. Though, as I said before these shoes had better arch support than many other Mary Janes I’ve tried.
More about Keen Women’s Shoes and the Verona Mary Jane
Size
I normally wear an 8.5 or 9 in nice shoes and a 9.5 in running shoes. I recieved a pair of 9′s and they fit perfectly with winter socks on, but I might have gone for the 8.5 if I was looking for a summer shoe. (Remember on Zappos there is free shipping, so, if you must you can always order 2 pairs and send 1 back.)
The Verona Mary Jane features:
- Adjustable strap over instep
- Full-grain leather upper
- KEEN toe protection
- Leather lining
- Metatomical footbed
According to KEEN’s website:
HYBRID.OLOGIES:
Keen classifies some of their shoe features as “Hypbrid.Ologies” which means that the these features “eliminate anything that comes between you and your hybrid life.” Here are the HYBRID.OLOGIES that the Verona Mary Jane Shoes fit into:
METATOMICAL FOOTBED DESIGN
This internal support mechanism is anatomically engineered to provide excellent arch support and cradle the natural contours of the foot.
KEEN.PROTECT
Can a sandal protect your toes? The answer is yes. The reason is KEEN Patented Toe Protection where the shoe outsoles wrap up and over the toes for ultimate protection.
Sydney versus the Verona
The Sydney is another extremely popular Keen Women’s shoe. It’s nearly identical to Verona except the Sydney has microfiber lining. The Sydney has moisture-wicking textile linings while the Verona mary jane has a Metatomical footbed Finally, the Verona Mary Jane looks a little nicer in terms of leather quality and colors.
Honestly, I’ve been looking for a pair of shoes like this for a long time. They are shoes I will definitely pack whenever I travel. They are nice enough looking to wear into even a fancy restaurant (given a nice pair of pants or cute dress). But they are comfortable and causal enough for spending an entire day on my feet walking through the street of Florence.
You can buy them at Zappos (which has free shipping – even on returns).
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Cool post on KEEN Verona Mary Janes! I’m a huuuge KEEN fan and I hadn’t seen or heard about this particular shoe.
I’m always in search for comfortable shoes for long walks
so… interesting recommendation 
I remember last year that I searched for like 2 months until I found a pear that suited me perfectly. And then I needed some sandals (I was however more lucky in this department 
).
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