NYC’s Best Boot Stores: The Disruptive Thursday Boot Company

After 10 years of covering casual menswear, I started a YouTube series on the best boot stores in New York City, a place teeming with high-quality footwear.

I visited brands with over a hundred years of history but the one we’re visiting today is one of the newer companies in the space, Thursday Boot Company. They only debuted in 2014, but their products quickly became some of the most talked about.

Note that today, Thursday also has a store in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood at 45 Crosby Street. But since their Flatiron showroom is also their global headquarters, I thought it’d be the best place to spotlight. Store manager Chris and co-founder Connor Wilson showed me around.

Thursday Boot Company’s Background

There are a few reasons why Thursday catapulted to the top of the boot industry’s food chain, but let’s be real: the main one is the price.

Their boots are made with Goodyear welt construction, the default way of making footwear that’s resoleable and durable. Before Thursday, it was pretty hard to find Goodyear welted boots for under $300, but they entered the market charging under $200 — and they’ve managed to keep the price there for over ten years.

“When I moved to New York, I didn’t have the money to buy a nice pair of shoes, and the stuff that was out there was always this terrible blend of either you look like a lumberjack or you look like youre trying to impress someone from Europe,” says Connor the co-founder. “We wanted something that was this perfect blend of stylish and also really functional.”

So Thursday also became successful for coming up with unusually versatile designs. Like Connor says, boots tend to lean either chunky and voluminous like work boots or skinny and lightweight like dress boots. Thursday took something of a hybrid approach that proved very popular.

“We were always looking for something for ourselves that we thought was going to hit that perfect kind of Goldilocks scenario of rugged and durable, but really clean and comfortable — and also something that you could easily afford,” says Connor.

The other unusual element of Thursday’s boots is the comfort. When boots have a tough break in, it’s usually because they use a stiff leather footbed and a thick leather upper. While they now have more traditionally made boots like that, the company’s bestsellers use a Poron foam insole: this not only helps with shock absorption but it also makes the break in a lot easier.

To sum up: Thursday solved a lot of issues that were preventing a lot of people from buying boots: the high price, the tough break in, and a lack of versatility.

Thursday’s Showroom

One way Thursday manages their lower prices is by primarily selling direct-to-customer: instead of selling the boots to stores that then sell them to you, they cut out the stores that would add their own markup.

But Connor didn’t intend to turn their headquarters into a store.

“Customers would somehow find out where office space was, and they’d knock on the door expecting to buy a shoe,” he explains. “Customers wanted something where they could actually try the product in person and see what the fit was and feel the leather themselves.”

Thursday’s Top Selling Boots

They launched with three models — the Captain, the President, and the Diplomat — and they’ve since expanded to sell an eye-watering array of products that now includes sneakers and jackets.

But these are the models they’re best known for:

The Captain is their first boot and still the bestseller, embodying everything about the brand: a versatile dress boot/work boot hybrid look, sneaker-like insole, and very low price of $199.

The Legend is their most casual and most popular Chelsea boot. It beats out their smarter Cavalier Chelsea because most Chelseas out there are smart casual or business casual; it’s uncommon to find one that’s so rugged.

The Diplomat stands out when compared to other leading moc toes because of all the boot styles, moc toes are typically the chunkiest. The Diplomat has a sleek look with a moc toe design, making it easier to pair with a contemporary wardrobe.

Thursday Women’s Boots

Last but not least, Thursday has a large selection of women’s boots.

For men’s boots, Thursday wanted to solve the problem of there not being enough versatile, low profile models. That wasn’t an issue for casual women’s boots: instead, they found that there were very few women’s boots that were made with Goodyear welt construction.

“We really evolved this model, says Chris. “The women’s Captain has gone from being a cut, a cement-constructed boot, to now being a Goodyear welted boot, the same as the men’s models.“

But Thursday quickly learned that women aren’t always crazy about this stiffer construction method, so most of Thursday’s women’s boots are cemented. But they keep the women’s Captain and Diplomat Goodyear welted — women aren’t a monolith, after all, and plenty of them want a tougher boot.

This is one of the few places you can get a resoleable women’s boot that’s actually built to last.

Wrapping Up

If you’re in New York City’s Flatiron district (it’s next to Chelsea), head to 48 West 21st St to check the place out. It’s a little hard to find because they’re on the second floor, but there’s usually a sign on the street alerting passersby to the cornucopia of quality footwear awaiting them on the second floor.