Popular Keen and Teva Sandals
Written by a whitewater guide, which is exactly the right qualification, and the comparison still holds because the two brands still represent two genuinely different answers.
The distinction, simply: Keen's signature is the closed toe bumper; Teva's is the open strap sandal. Both are still made and both are still the reference point in their style.
- Closed toe protects against rocks you cannot see under water and against stubbing on a boat deck. It also holds grit and takes longer to dry.
- Open strap drains and dries faster, is cooler in heat, and leaves your toes exposed.
If you do one thing, get a heel strap. A sandal held on only at the toe comes off in current, and a lost sandal mid-river is the story every guide has.
What to look for beyond the brand: siped rubber for wet rock, quick-drying webbing rather than leather, and straps you can adjust while wearing them, which sounds trivial until your feet swell on day three.
Sizing note that has not changed: both brands fit differently from shoes and from each other, and both fit differently in wet and dry. Try them on late in the day when your feet are largest.
And the smell question, which every review dodges: it is bacteria in damp footbed foam, and it is preventable rather than curable. Rinse in fresh water after salt or river use, dry out of direct sunlight, and do not leave them packed damp. A sandal treated that way lasts years; one that is not becomes unwearable long before the sole goes.
Part of the guide to boots, shoes and sandals.