Keen is pushing its efforts for sustainability in Santiago, Dominican Republic, where the shoe of the same name is going to be manufactured. The location ensures shorter transport routes to the main market, the U.S. The plan is to create a shoe that can be hand-sewn exclusively by locals, dispensing the use of toxic glue. To make this a reality the manufacturer is going back to the hot vulcanizing method. Bringing this environmentally friendly technology back to fruition took a great deal of effort. The idea was to take old machines, which were collected in Germany, and have them repaired. Two hundred vulcanizing presses from the 1950s and ’60s, were collected and reconditioned and are now available for the production of shoes. A part of the revenues from the sales will go into a fund that finances loans for entrepreneurs with good business ideas from all over the globe.