Barneys and Keds Partner on Eco-Footwear

Footwear brand Keds (Lexington, Mass.) is collaborating on a designer shoe line with Barneys New York and Loomstate, a design house dedicated to utilizing organic cotton in its products. Barneys New York will sell the Keds by Loomstate collection at select stores and online. The specialty apparel retailer also plans a series of national window displays, designed by creative director Simon Doonan, as well as a video.

“Mixing the tradition of Keds with the stylish, organic culture of Loomstate and the search for quality products at Barneys makes for an amazing project and a perfect collaboration,” says Julie Gilhart, senior vp, fashion director of Barneys New York.

The collection includes five prints based on the Keds classic Champion silhouette and is priced at $75 a pair. The shoes features 100 percent certified organic uppers and linings, nickel free eyelets and recycled insole boards. A percentage of proceeds from shoe sales will be donated to The Organic Exchange, which focuses on the expanding organic agriculture.

Keds launched the world's first sneaker in 1916, with the term “sneaker” coined in 1917 by Henry Nelson McKinney, the advertising agent for Keds, because the rubber sole made the shoe quiet.

“A partnership of this scope with a prestigious fashion leader such as Barneys New York represents a major milestone for the Keds brand,” says Keds president Kristin Kohler Burrows. “Loomstate's unmatched credibility and innovation in the organic apparel space adds relevance, depth and timeless style to the project.”

Keds is a subsidiary of The Stride Rite Corp., which is a unit of Collective Brands Inc. (Topeka, Kan.).