Keds BlissMove Sneaker Review: What One Wardrobe Oxygen Reader Really Thinks

My goal with Wardrobe Oxygen is to offer real-life style advice for fellow grown women. We want quality, we want comfort, we want style, and we want honest reviews to help us be savvy shoppers who don't waste our time or our money. I know that many of us deal with fussy feet and are looking for comfort shoes with style. When provided the opportunity, I wanted to share with you an honest Keds BlissMove review for this line of affordable shoes designed for plantar fasciitis, wide feet, and foot issues.

Before You Read: Why This Review Exists

When Keds gifted me a pair of their BlissMove Marled Knit Slip-Ons, I decided to pass them along to a reader rather than review them myself. I put out a call in the Wardrobe Oxygen Facebook community, chose Kim O'Neill, and paid her to test them and share her honest thoughts.

If you've read my Quince jeans review or my NuFace Mini review, you already know that I share my (and my community's) thoughts, even when the review isn't glowing. I know that such feedback can actually prove incredibly useful. We are all different women with different bodies, lives, needs, and feet. What may be wrong for one may be the perfect choice for another and with such details, it's easier to determine that. I hope you find Kim's review as useful as I did!

Keds BlissMove Marled Knit Slip-On Sneaker Review

The following is Kim's review, in her own words.

The Reviewer

Like a lot of fans of Alison and Wardrobe Oxygen, I’m a grown-ass woman, I’m over 50, and I want to wear things that are comfortable, stylish, and that feel good for my age and lifestyle. Maybe this is you, too? And maybe you also struggle sometimes with finding footwear that looks good, feels good, and is not only forgiving but maybe even helpful with any foot issues that always seem to come with middle and older age? And possibly (hopefully!) not ugly?

I’ve always been fairly active, but when I went on a health kick several years ago, I began walking 10,000 steps a day and found it to be life changing. I must tell you that I live in California, so the weather is often cooperative, though we do get a fair bit of rain in the winter. But the combination of spending so much time outdoors and upping my physical activity to a gentle if completely committed 60-90 minutes a day improved my life in so many ways.

In general, my shoe of choice for all this walking has been Hokas (which I know Alison loves, too), and although I find them comfortable, I have trouble wearing and pairing them with anything besides my exercise clothing.

I also travel in Europe a fair bit, and while I know I’ll never fool the locals into thinking I’m one of them, I do like to feel as if I’m dressed stylishly, and not like a tourist whose one and only interest is being comfy, though that is certainly a priority!

The Foot Situation: Hallux Rigidus

My main foot health challenge is hallux rigidus on my right big toe, which is the formation of a bone spur that limits movement and can be painful (also known as “frozen toe”). 

My cousin, a physical therapist and fellow sufferer, has made great suggestions to me around footwear (“Hokas!”) and shoe lacing methods, such as focusing on relieving pressure over the big toe joint by skipping the lowest eyelets or using “window” lacing to create a pressure-free zone, all of which work well for me, but again, Hokas—even fancily laced ones—are not as low profile and stylish as I would like.

First Impressions: Style and Features

Enter the Keds BlissMove Marled Knit Slip On, which I volunteered to review when Alison put out a call on Facebook for reader reviews. Keds calls their BlissMove collection “advanced support for all day activity”. In general I’m not a fan of slip-on sneakers without laces (such as a loafer style), mainly because I don’t feel that type fits in with the rest of what I wear.

For reference, the three style-inspiration words I live (and dress, and buy clothes) by are “easy”, “polished”, and “art-lady”. In other words, strictly athletic sneakers are not something that blend seamlessly into my wardrobe, though of course exceptions are made for my daily 10k steps. Trend-forward athletic sneakers are a different story! 

But the BlissMove style has what I will call “faux” laces that do the job of making the shoe look more like a classic, if low profile, athletic shoe, while still being a super-easy, hands-free slip-on. The soles are grippy, too, again, without being too thick, with a rigid midsole which (as I understand it) is helpful if you are dealing with plantar fasciitis. 

According to Keds, the BlissMove is “an ergonomic design informed by over 25 million foot scans, and features a new removable, shock-absorbing comfort insole”. Keds also seems really excited about the washability of the shoe, which is great for me, too. I, like Alison, make frequent stops to my community garden plot (though we don’t have a scary doll at ours!), and being able to easily machine wash them is so handy. 

What It's Like to Wear Them

My first impression when putting the shoe on was how lovely and lightweight it was, something I really appreciated over my usual over-built walking sneakers. If this shoe could be supportive and comfy on my daily 10k, what a boon it would be to travel with something so feather light!

The knitted fabric adds to this light and airy feeling. I was looking forward to skipping down the sidewalk with ease, instead of what some might call clomping in my usual footwear. Style-wise it’s low profile and inoffensive. Although Keds bills this as a “comfort” shoe, it has more in common with any sleek athletic shoe than it does with something orthopedic. 

I put the shoes on and started with some walks around the house in between bouts at my computer (I work part time from home). I was really enjoying how lightweight and comfy they were, and how utterly inoffensive they look. The texture of the knit fabric adds a bit of interest, and the uppers (I chose black) contrast nicely with the substantial (but not over-the-top) white sole.

I can picture wearing these not only with my walking clothing (athleisure-ish), but even favorite outfits like wide-leg jeans paired with a graphic tee and lady jacket, or striped athletic pants, a sweatshirt, and my prized winter purchase, a mid-length leopard car coat. 

Wearing Keds BlissMoves for Walking

Time to take my new BlissMoves for a spin around the neighborhood! After about 5,000 steps and some more time at the computer, I had to admit that though I loved the BlissMove and its overall comfort, my hallux rigidus did not.

Unfortunately the shoe felt tight over that bone spur, and as the laces are not true laces, there was no way to lace them in one of my cousin’s fancy ways to hopefully put less pressure on my painful spot. Though the mesh fabric is very flexible and forgiving, I really needed the shoe to be just a little looser over that sore area. 

Summary

In conclusion, I think these shoes are worth a try–unless you have hallux rigidus. They seem like they would be great for plantar fasciitis, nice and lightweight for travel, their style is sleek and versatile, and you can’t beat machine washability and a removable insole.

Alison's Take

Kim's experience is a wonderful reminder that foot health is personal, and no shoe works for everyone. The Keds BlissMove has great features: lightweight construction, machine washability, a low-profile look that plays well outside of a gym context, and the APMA Seal of Acceptance I noted when I featured them in my vacation capsule wardrobe.

If you have plantar fasciitis, a wide forefoot, or you're tired of sneakers that look like you're training for something when you're just running errands, these are worth a try. If you have hallux rigidus or any condition that requires adjustable tension over a specific part of your foot, skip these.

As we experience more in this world, our feet end up reflecting that. And with it, we find our needs become more varied. I will continue to offer detailed shoe reviews here at Wardrobe Oxygen so you can more easily find the right footwear to keep you enjoying this journey we call life.