I recently tried 10 different low-top steel toe work shoes to evaluate them on weight, flexibility, comfort and purpose. One of the shoes I got to evaluate were these Skechers Cankton Steel Toe Shoes, and I was honestly a bit shocked how much I liked them.
Ultimately, I named these my overall favorite low-top steel toe shoes for work. The thing that jumped out the most about these shoes was the amount of under-foot comfort they provided due to the thick memory-foam insoles that they use. In this article I want to discuss the four most important things you need to know about these Skechers Cankton Steel Toe Shoes before you buy, and I want to compare and contrast them to other options on the market today.
4 Things To Know About Skechers Cankton Steel Toe Work Shoes
The Best Under-Foot Comfort on the Market Today
The under-foot comfort is what jumped out to me about these shoes the most. If you are someone who spends long work days on your feet, and need some relief, these will be a great option.
These Skechers Cankton shoes use memory foam insoles. I personally love steel toe shoes that use memory foam insoles, and think that memory foam insoles provide the best under-foot comfort.
Of course Skechers isn’t the only brand to use memory foam insoles. What set these apart was the thickness and cushioning that these offered, which was (in my opinion) noticeably better than other brands.
In the video below I tried to capture just how soft and forgiving these Skechers Cankton memory foam insoles are:
The main takeaway here for comfort is these shoes provide more cushioning under both my toe pad and heel than any of the other 10 low-top steel toe shoes that I tried. If you are spending long days standing on a factory floor, these soft sole safety shoes might provide you the relief you need.
I found the flexibility of these shoes to be similar to that of a walking shoe. Some of the lighter-weight options I tried had even more flexibility than these Skechers Cankton shoes, but I thought the flexibility of this shoe was more than adequate to provide the comfort and responsiveness needed:
The collar and tongue are also padded nicely and don’t eat into my ankle. The only small drawback here regarding comfort is these Skechers Cankton shoes, although built much like a walking shoe, do weigh more than some of the other low-top steel toe shoes on the market today. Let’s discuss weight next.
Weight Compared to Industry
My size 12 men’s Skechers Cankton Steel Toe Shoes weigh 1.30 pounds per shoe:
Overall, this puts the weight of this shoe approximately around the middle of the pack when compared to other low-top steel toe work shoes on the market today. As I said earlier, I recently tried 10 different low-top steel toe shoes. This is how the Skechers Cankton Steel Toe Work Shoes compared regarding weight:
| Shoe | Weight (lbs) | Photos |
| Caterpillar Woodward | 1.09 | View My Photos |
| Reebok Zprint | 1.15 | View My Photos |
| Fila Memory Reckoning | 1.21 | View My Photos |
| Reebok Sublite | 1.25 | View My Photos |
| Reebok All Terrain | 1.29 | View My Photos |
| Skechers Cankton | 1.30 | View My Photos |
| New Balance 627 | 1.50 | View My Photos |
| Keen Atlanta Cool 2 | 1.50 | View My Photos |
| Caterpillar Brode | 1.53 | View My Photos |
| Keen Lansing Low | 1.55 | View My Photos |
Overall, I still think this shoe feels reasonably lightweight on my foot. Yes, there are some options on the market that weigh even less, but those tend to be shoes that have minimalistic designs (we will discuss some of those shoes later).
If you are looking for ultra-lightweight, I’d probably go with the Caterpillar Woodward or the Reebok Zprint steel toe shoes. But I did think these Skechers Cankton shoes, despite being a bit heavier, were more comfortable than both of those shoes, and I also think these shoes have more durability.
Durability for Work
These Skechers Cankton Steel Toe Shoes have much stronger toe and heel overlays compared to many other low-top composite toe shoes on the market. Here’s a look at the toe overlay on my Skechers Cankton Steel Toe Shoes:
As you can see, Skechers has almost a sort of triple layering there across the front of the toe to provide multiple layers or abrasion resistance on top of the textile upper fabric. Yes, these shoes have protective steel toes, but work shoes also need some type of overlay over the toe to protect the material of the shoe against abrasions, scuffs, and bangs.
The heel of the shoe also has a small panel of abrasion resistance which acts almost like a kick plate to help protect the material when you kick your shoes off after work.
Overall, I found the abrasion resistance of this shoe to be better than most all other types of low-top athletic-style steel toe shoes. Will these shoes be as durable as work boots? Of course not. But I think they find a nice middle ground where the build of these shoes is both lightweight and durable.
The outsole is slip-resistant on these shoes and has a more advanced tread pattern than some of the other lightweight steel toe shoes on the market today. It’s worth noting that these shoes do not have a raised, squared heel, so they won’t make a lot of sense for those climbing ladders all day:
Despite this extra durability, these Skechers Cankton work shoes are best used indoors or for light-duty work outdoors on predictable terrain. Like all low-top work shoes, these shoes don’t have the durability of a leather work boot, and can’t hold up long term in a rugged environment like a leather steel toe work boot can.
Skechers Cankton Sizing
I found these Skechers Cankton shoes to fit true to size. I ordered my normal sizing and they fit very comfortably on my feet. Here I am wearing these shoes:
Overall, I felt like these shoes were a bit wider than the other low-top steel toe shoes that I tried. No, these shoes weren’t obnoxiously wide, but if you have wide feet, these might be a nice option for you.
Skechers Cankton Steel Toe Shoes Compared to Other Shoes
Which Shoes Weigh Less?
If you are looking for an ultra-lightweight work shoe, despite the fact that these Skechers Cankton shoes feel much like a walking shoe on my foot, there are low-top steel toe shoes on the market that weigh less than these shoes. For example, here are my Caterpillar Woodward Steel Toe Shoes:
These Caterpillar Woodward shoes were the most lightweight steel toe shoes that I tried (10 total were tried). As you can see, my size 12 men’s shoe weighs only 1.09 pounds per shoe. These Caterpillar Woodward shoes feel like ultra-lightweight athletic shoes, but it’s worth noting that I still think the Skechers Cankton work shoes feel more comfortable on my feet.
To read more about those shoes, visit my article about the best lightweight steel toe work shoes.
Which Shoes Are More Durable?
As I said throughout, I felt like these Skechers Cankton work shoes are quite durable, especially when compared to other athletic-style steel toe shoes. Despite that, these athletic-style shoes are almost always best used for light-duty work. They won’t hold up like a pair of work boots will.
If you are looking for a low-top steel toe work shoe with even more durability than this Skechers Cankton shoe, then I would recommend considering a Keen steel toe shoe.
I like the Keen Atlanta Cool work shoes because not only do they have a breathable design, they also wrap a thick rubber overlay over the toes of their shoes for extra abrasion resistance. They also incorporate leather into the upper for a more durable design.
Here’s a look at my Keen Atlanta Cool low-top steel toe shoes:
I like to describe these shoes as a sort of middle-ground between a hiking shoe and a work shoe. As you can see, with that extra durability does come extra weight. But I also felt like these shoes were very flexible and comfortable to wear. I also felt like the Caterpillar Brode shoes were more durable, and have a more casual design.
Which Shoes Are More Breathable?
Despite the fact that these Skechers Cankton steel toe shoes are very comfortable to wear, I think there are better options if you are working in extreme heat. If you are searching for something lightweight and breathable, you might be wondering if Nike makes steel toe shoes. No, unfortunately right now they do not.
But I really like Reebok work shoes. In fact, the Reebok Zprint shoes were the most breathable low-top steel-toe athletic shoe that I tried. Here’s what mine look like:
If you look at the photos above, you can see in one of the photos that when I hold these shoes up to the light you can actually see through these shoes. They are very breathable and allow heat to escape, which is exactly what you need during those brutal summer days.
Overall I really liked these Reebok Zprint shoes. They were the second lightest shoe that I tried (1.15 pounds per shoe size 12 men’s), and also were probably my second favorite for under-foot comfort behind only the Skechers Cankton steel toe shoes.
The Reebok Zprint shoes have memory foam insoles that also have groove pods that help relieve stress off the bottom of my foot. In the video below I tried to capture how comfortable the insoles are for the Reebok Zprint shoes:
Overall, these Reebok Zprint shoes serve as a nice alternative to the Skechers Cankton shoes if you are working in hot weather. But I do think the Skechers Cankton steel toe shoes are more durable. Use these Reebok Zprint shoes for only light-duty work. To read more, visit my article about the best steel toe shoes for hot weather.
Which Shoes Have Similar Comfort?
Okay, I already told you above that I think the Reebok Zprint shoes were another low-top steel toe shoe that had similar comfort under-the-foot compared to the Skechers Cankton steel toe shoes. There are two other memory foam steel toe shoes I want to discuss because I also thought they had premium comfort under the foot: The Reebok All Terrain Shoes and the Fila Memory Reckoning Shoes.
Here’s what my Reebok All Terrain Steel Toe Shoes look like:
These Reebok All Terrain shoes were, in my opinion, more flexible than the Skechers Cankton shoes and just like the Skechers Cankton shoes, these Reebok All Terrain shoes also have memory foam insoles that are very comfortable. Ultimately, I thought the memory foam insoles in the Skechers Cankton shoes were thicker and more forgiving, but these insoles are also very comfortable.
I tried to capture in the video below how comfortable these Reebok All Terrain insoles are:
These Reebok All Terrain Work Shoes weigh slightly less than the Skechers Cankton shoes, and I think the outsole is better equipped for light-duty outdoor work. Overall, this is a very nice shoe and I named these Reebok All Terrain shoes as the most versatile shoe that I tried due to it’s lightweight design combined with a more advanced outsole tread pattern.
Another shoe I want to briefly mention regarding comfort is the Fila Memory Reckoning steel toe shoe just because I was absolutely shocked how much I liked these shoes. No, I didn’t like them better than the Skechers Cankton steel toe shoes, but I truthfully had low expectations for these Fila shoes and came away thinking I could see myself wearing these everyday.
Here’s what mine look like:
These Fila shoes weigh less than the Skechers Cankton shoes and have, in my opinion, more flexibility. And they also use memory foam insoles. But I didn’t think the memory foam insoles in these Fila shoes were quite as comfortable as the memory foam insoles in the Skechers Cankton shoes.
In this video I tried to capture how soft the Fila memory foam insoles are:
The main takeaway is, yes, there are some other shoes on the market that provide nice comfort under-the-foot. But ultimately I personally think the Skechers Cankton steel toe shoes clearly provide the most comfort and are a great solution for those of you who spend long days on your feet.
My Conclusion About These Skechers Cankton Steel Toe Shoes
Overall, out of the 10 low-top steel toe shoes that I tried, these Skechers Cankton shoes were overall my favorite shoes. I thought they clearly provide the most under-foot comfort, and they have a design that finds a nice middle-ground between durability and lightweight comfort.
Yes, there are shoes on the market that weigh less. And there are also shoes on the market with a more rugged design, but these Skechers Cankton shoes find a nice middle ground. They feel like a walking shoe on my feet, but also don’t feel dangerously flimsy.
My conclusion is this – These Skechers Cankton steel toe shoes were the most comfortable low-top steel toe shoe that I tried. I felt like the memory foam insoles were thicker and more forgiving than other shoes. I recommend these shoes as a nice option for those of you who spend long days standing on your feet and need some relief. Although there are a wide range of jobs that can use these Skechers Cankton shoes, I’d recommend them only for light-duty work on predictable terrain.