INSIDERS with Jeroen MEIJER
Senior Marketing Manager EMEA at KEEN
KEEN doesn’t fit neatly into a box. And that’s exactly the point.
The Portland-based brand has spent two decades building credibility in outdoor, from iconic technical sandals to serious hiking gear, while quietly becoming a lifestyle staple in markets like Japan and the UK. Now, they’re navigating one of the trickiest challenges in the industry: staying authentic to both worlds at once.
Jeroen Meijer, Senior Marketing Manager for EMEA, has been at the center of that shift for nearly eight years. Based in Rotterdam, he’s the person translating KEEN’s American DNA into strategies that work across 50+ European markets, each with its own retail landscape, consumer behavior, and cultural nuances.
What makes this conversation interesting? Jeroen doesn’t sugarcoat the complexity. He talks openly about the tension between lifestyle momentum and outdoor credibility, why KEEN still operates on informed intuition rather than endless data panels, and how a ridiculously small team built a global lifestyle movement that ended up at New York Fashion Week.
Also: the founder still shows up every day at 70+. And yes, that shapes everything.
Here’s Jeroen.
Hi Jeroen! Great to speak with you today! To start, could you introduce yourself, your role, and give a quick overview of KEEN for those who may not know the brand?
I’m 35 and based in the Netherlands and I lead marketing for KEEN in the EMEA region from our office in Rotterdam. Responsibilities include brand strategy, campaign development, retail activation and category growth. My team runs the full regional plan, working across lifestyle, outdoor and now trail. I’ve been with KEEN for almost eight years, and the mix of strategy, culture and hands-on work is what keeps the role exciting and dynamic.
KEEN is a family-owned footwear brand from Portland, founded in 2003. The brand is still relatively young, with a strong outdoor core. We first became known for technical outdoor sandals, and today we operate in multiple categories while staying true to that DNA.
What are your biggest markets in Europe today?
Germany and the UK are strong markets for us, which fits the broader EMEA landscape. The Czech Republic is another standout. We have a long-term distributor there who also operates retail, along with our own KEEN stores. They’ve built the market from the beginning, and the mix of dedicated retail and a committed partner gives the brand solid visibility in that country. Overall, we have a strong presence across most European markets.
Europe is so fragmented. How do you make sure KEEN stays relevant locally when the brand is driven from Portland?
That’s a big part of my job. There’s a global strategy, but Europe is a unique region with many countries, languages and cultures, so it always needs interpretation. My role is to bring in that local context, explain how retail works, how consumers behave and what lands or doesn’t in each market. KEEN’s family-owned, people-first mindset helps a lot here. The collaboration between regions is open and direct, which makes it easier to translate global direction into something that works locally while keeping the brand consistent, relevant and visible across Europe.
How big is Europe for KEEN globally?
Our home market in the US is the biggest region for KEEN, but we have a strong presence in all other regions. KEEN is truly international. Japan is a key market with strong lifestyle momentum and Europe sits between these regions, playing across multiple categories. That gives us a broad base, but it also means we need to stay disciplined in how we grow.
How does your reporting line work between Rotterdam and Portland?
There is a structure of reporting to both our GM EMEA in Rotterdam and the CMO in Portland. The global marketing team sits in Portland, while the full EMEA marketing team is based in our Rotterdam office. Europe operates with a mix of direct markets and distributors.
“One of the biggest challenges, but also one of the biggest opportunities, is managing two momentums at the same time: lifestyle and core outdoor.”
What are the biggest marketing challenges for KEEN in Europe today?
One of the biggest challenges, but also one of the biggest opportunities, is managing two momentums at the same time: lifestyle and core outdoor. We have deep outdoor credibility, especially in sandals and hiking, and at the same time we see strong lifestyle interest growing across Europe. Both sides matter. Outdoor gives us authenticity, and lifestyle brings new energy and new consumers. If one drops, the other feels it. The real work is keeping both pillars active, connected and relevant without losing focus.
How does this balance translate into marketing campaigns and assets?
We translate that balance into campaigns by staying close to who we are. We don’t chase trends or try to imitate other brands. Many of our key lifestyle styles have been in the line for ten to twenty years, and they still carry real performance. That connection keeps the brand coherent. In our marketing work we treat both sides equally, with investment split between outdoor and lifestyle, and we build stories that show how the two strengthen each other.
And what about your marketing channels?
On the outdoor side, trade marketing is still the strongest channel, because each market has its own key accounts and that’s where most decisions are made. PR also plays a big role, especially when we introduce new technology or innovation. Lifestyle is driven more by PR, community and long-term creators. We don’t work with people who switch brands every month. We work with people who already wear KEEN and genuinely like the product, because that creates a more authentic connection.
This long-term mindset seems deeply linked to being a family-owned business, right?
Absolutely. The founder is still closely involved in the business, and his family is active as well. That creates a very clear culture inside the company. The mindset is simple: do the right thing, and that approach has been part of the brand from day one. A good example is when KEEN donated 1 million dollars from the marketing budget to support tsunami relief in 2004, only one year after the brand was founded. Actions like that shaped the company’s values and still influence how we work today.
How do you maintain consistency with so many categories and markets?
Prioritisation is key. Within KEEN there’s a lot of creativity and a lot of ideas. We try to find a good balance between supporting that energy and the need in Europe to focus our resources. If we activate everything at once, the message gets diluted. Clear choices keep the brand consistent across all markets.
From the outside, KEEN looks like a very agile organisation. How does that show day to day?
KEEN is very agile in the day-to-day. Being family-owned keeps the organisation flat, with short lines between departments and regions. You can move fast because decisions don’t sit in long approval cycles. If we believe in something, we test it, try it and prototype quickly. That ability to act and adjust is a big part of the culture.
A lot of brands today won’t launch anything without data and panels. You still rely on intuition?
Yes, but it’s informed intuition. Not because we take risks lightly, but because we can’t spend years testing every idea. When a product is ready, we move fast. E-commerce is more data-driven, but the rest of marketing still depends on expertise, instinct and years of understanding our consumer and categories.
“It’s not blind intuition, it’s informed intuition.”
Is there a project you’re particularly proud of?
Yes, definitely. When I joined, KEEN was still viewed as very outdoor-focused. But we started seeing lifestyle signals coming from Japan, and then similar movements in the UK. Japan already had a lifestyle playbook, so we decided to adapt that idea for Europe. For many people in the organisation this was something new, and it took time to convince everyone. With a tiny team we started approaching tier 0 and tier 1 accounts and building the foundation step by step. We pushed, and it became an important part of our growth. Some EMEA collaborations started landing in Japan, then in the US, and eventually even appeared during New York Fashion Week. We helped build global lifestyle momentum with a very small team, and that’s something I’m proud of. You wouldn’t be able to do that in a big corporate. We were literally doing Illustrator edits ourselves. I remember one evening fixing a logo on a prototype with a colleague just to hit a deadline for a runway show. It’s intense, but it’s also what makes the job fun.
What skills matter most to join KEEN today?
Energy and passion matter a lot. You need to genuinely enjoy working for this brand. Accountability is also important. We’re a small team, so if you don’t do the work, nobody steps in behind you.
And then the mix of strategy and creativity, at KEEN you also need to turn ideas and problems into clear plans quickly. No long testing cycles. We look for people who understand what matters and act fast.
And for you personally, what were the key career moves that led you here?
I started at Bever, a key outdoor retailer in the Netherlands, working in trade marketing. KEEN was one of my clients. I always tried to support the brand in a fair and honest way while balancing retailer needs. They appreciated that approach and at some point asked me to join them. Moving from a local retailer to an international brand gave me more responsibility, more creativity and exposure to different cultures. Four years later, I took over the marketing lead role and started pushing KEEN to become more culturally relevant, especially on the lifestyle side.
Final question: what kind of partners or opportunities would you like to attract now?
We’re entering the trail space, and we look for partners who match our values. We don’t work with celebrities or the biggest elite races. That’s not who we are. We focus on community, being outside, mental health, the joy of movement and the human side of the sport rather than extreme performance. Our best partners are usually grassroots organisations, local crews and passionate people who share that mindset.