family-footwear
(3)
Payless knows what a name costs.
A fake luxury boutique made its bargain shoes look expensive. Two bankruptcies exposed a harder problem: making affordable footwear pay.
KEEN
KEEN is a privately held American outdoor footwear and accessories brand founded in 2003 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Best known for the toe-protecting Newport hybrid sandal, KEEN designs hiking boots, sandals, casual shoes and safety work footwear (KEEN Utility) that blend outdoor performance with a durability-first, low-impact ethos it calls 'Consciously Created.' The company has been PFAS-free since 2018, uses recycled and agricultural-waste materials, manufactures part of its line in the U.S., and channels giving through The KEEN Effect. It sells direct-to-consumer online and through retail partners worldwide.
Rack Room Shoes
Rack Room Shoes is one of America's largest family-owned footwear retailers, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in 1922 and owned by Germany's Deichmann Group since the mid-1980s, it sells athletic, casual, comfort and dress shoes for the whole family across roughly 500 stores in 36 states plus rackroomshoes.com, operating both the Rack Room Shoes and Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse banners. The company is known for value pricing, its long-running Buy One Get One 50% Off promotion, the free Rack Room Rewards loyalty program, and a portfolio of national name brands alongside its own private-label lines.