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- Investing in a pair of leather boots used to mean spending hundreds of dollars on a nice pair or making do with something cheaper but poorly made.
- Thursday Boot Company makes handmade leather boots from premium materials and sells them direct-to-consumer for about half what you'd normally pay ($150 - $200)
- I've been wearing the company's version of the Chelsea boot, The Duchess ($160) for about a month and it has consistently impressed me in terms of style, comfort, and overall quality.
At some point in their lives, most people will want to invest in a nice pair of leather boots. By 'nice' I mean everything from leather that will last you decades to boots that won't look cheap in direct sunlight.
Take, for instance, the plight of a 17-year old me. I had done the unrelenting, far-reaching research required by both my Type A personality and a bank account that accurately reflected a summer working at a local pizza shop for minimum wage. Even so, the most value-packed pair of leather boots I found required a few hundred dollars. I winced, but I bought them.
If I'd waited until a couple years later, I could have spent half the money.
Thursday Boot Company was launched via a Kickstarter campaign in 2014. Frustrated by the lack of quality boot options under $400, founders Nolan Walsh and Connor Wilson were looking for an investment to build a company that could make great, handmade leather boots from premium materials and sell them direct to consumer for the best price possible. They set their goal at $30,000, and finished up with over nine times that (about $275,000).
The idea of stylish, premium leather boots sold at low prices is a great idea, but most footwear companies don't keep the heat running by donations from shoppers who love good ideas but don't mind poor construction.
For that reason, Walsh told Business Insider that, while other companies might cut corners when possible, Thursday Boot reinvests the money they save on not using middlemen back into comfort, like "soft and supple glove leather lining, corkbed midsoles that conform to your feet, and EVA comfort strips similar to premium athletic shoes."
And after about a month of walking around in the company's version of the Chelsea boot, the Duchess ($160), I can see what Walsh means. Now, it's no surprise that the company went from producing 1,000 pairs and just "seeing where things go" to shipping more than 1,000 every week now.
Even though they're half the price of what I paid years ago, the Duchess pair are a whole league apart in terms of comfort. The insoles are plush and cushiony even on tough concrete, and the studded rubber outsoles provide enough traction for the Roadrunner pace I usually use to navigate NYC. I broke them in on a brisk 20-block walk, and I was surprised and happy to find no blisters when I took them off that night.
In terms of style, they're pretty much exactly what I wanted in an everyday boot (an elastic ankle, low heel, deep color). The Duchess comes in four colorways: black, brown, cognac suede, and dark olive suede, and the brown is rich and beautiful in person. The slight sheen on the leather actually makes them look slightly more expensive than I expected.
The ankle is closely fitted, and the supple leather paneling bends easily without creasing. And, as a big bonus, the 1.25" heel means they're perfect to be dressed up or down. I think they look even better in person than they do in pictures, and I've been asked enough times in the Starbucks line who makes them to know I'm not the only person who thinks so.
The only thing I would mention as a cautionary point is that the site recommends you buy a 1/2 size larger than you would normally wear in athletic shoes. I have pretty thin, long feet and I chose to stick with my true size, and I'm glad I did. If you're unsure and order the wrong size, though, the company offers free returns.
All in all, the Thursday Boot Chelsea boots are comfortable, low-key, versatile, and I was prepared to pay another $300 for an inferior version before finding these. With the extra money, I'm considering buying the dark olive suede, too.
If you're looking for a new pair of supple, high-quality leather boots and like the idea of paying less than you probably thought you had to, then I recommend checking out Thursday Boot. Not many things— least of all handmade leather boots — come without a trade-off for price or quality, but these certainly seem to be one of the outliers worth paying attention to.
Shop all of Thursday Boot Company's boots here.
Buy Thursday Boot Company's Duchess Boot for women for $160 here.
Mara Leighton Senior Digital Culture Reporter Mara Leighton is a senior digital culture reporter. If you want to get in touch, please send an email to mleighton@businessinsider.com, or send a DM on twitter to @maraleighton. Read more Read lessYou can purchase logo and accolade licensing to this story here.
Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at reviews@businessinsider.com.
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