Thursday Coda Boot Review | 90s Grunge Meets Military

 Anyone who has heard me wax poetic about my Doc Martens or my Thursday Reigns knows that I love a chunky boot. They make me feel tough, which makes me feel safe, even as a woman alone walking around in an unfamiliar city in the middle of the night, as I am wont to do.

They’re also infinitely more comfortable than the spindly little things women are so often expected to traipse around in — you won’t find me in a stiletto, ever — but stylish in a Fairuza-Balk-in-The-Craft kind of way.

So, toughness and comfort: pretty much my two biggest parameters in life. And a chunky boot, like Thursday’s Coda, definitely fits that bill.

Thursday Coda Boots Pros and Cons

If you’ve got somewhere to be, here’s a quick rundown of what I liked and didn’t like about theses boots.

Pros

• Grungey combat boot look
• Side zipper for easy entry
• Flexible, grippy, and shock absorbant
• Very inexpensive

Cons

• Not resoleable (though this does make them lighter)
• Thicker leather did cause a break in period
• Impossible to dress up

About Thursday Boot Company

Founded in 2014 by two friends named Connor Wilson and Nolan Walsh, Thursday Boot Company is built on the premise that high quality boots — a.k.a. the kind that don’t fall apart after six months — are too expensive. (Or they were when they started the company.)

Thursday’s goal was to create an ever-evolving collection of boots that looked good, felt good, and cost mostly under $200, thanks to their almost impossibly low markups. (DTC, baby!) And sure, they started out with those practical, hiking-adjacent lace-ups for men that I knew them for. But since then, they’ve branched out into a variety of women’s styles, including edgier iterations like the Coda.

First Glance

• 90s grunge meets military vibe
• 2.5-inch serrated heels
• Side zipper for easy entry

These $180 boots are currently available in four colorways: classic Black leather, a dark reddish-brown leather called Black Cherry, a rich chocolatey-brown leather called Dark Anejo, and my personal favorite: Black and Gold, which are $190 due to an added leather strap around the upper ankle with gold hardware, and a gold zipper instead of the classic black. I tested out the classic Black, which has a bit of a ‘90s grunge-meets-military vibe, though the serrated 2.5-inch heels keeps it fashion-forward. 

My favorite thing about these boots is that while they lace up—and the laces are made from high-quality upcycled polyester, hooray!—they are also very easy to slip on and off without untying and retying thanks to their interior Rubi® metal side zipper. (Folks, this  is a zipper that is built to last.)

Fashion-wise, the Codas look great with jeans or black tights, but will play nicely with just about any outfit you throw at them. They’re also great if you happen to be dressing up as Fairuza Balk in The Craft for Halloween, or if you just like to look like her on regular days.

Thursday’s Coda Sizing & Fit

• Order your usual size
• Slight break in during first week

These boots fit pretty true to size, though perhaps a hair on the small side compared to other Thursday boots — they’re a bit shorter and narrower than similar styles like the Reign.

The leather is a bit stiff to start, so they will require a bit of break-in, and I personally struggled a bit with rubbing on the back of the ankles. If this afflicts you too, try a heel liner to ease you through the break-in period and prevent blisters. Things got pretty painful for my left ankle without one.

[See more of our crazy in-depth women’s boots reviews]

Thursday’s Coda Boot Leather

• Thicker and more durable than competing boots
• Slightly sanded to improve aesthetics 
• Made sustainably from Leather Working Group certified tanneries

These boots are made of buttery-smooth, practically full grain leather, which basically means leather that’s thicker than some of those really thin dress leathers out there (the kind that starts wearing away as soon as somebody inevitably steps on your foot).

“Full grain” means the leather has the outermost layer of the animal’s skin, which a lot of brands shave or sand away to make it thinner and smoother at the cost of durability and longevity. Thursday’s is slightly corrected; if you look closely, you won’t see the wrinkles, pores, and grains of classic full grain leather, but like the industry defining Chromexcel boot leather, this doesn’t mean it’s lower quality, just a little smoother.

A ton of leathers people call “full grain” have actually been sanded or shaved — the technical word is “corrected” — a little bit. So these boots are smooth, but they still have character and are far more durable than thinner, very corrected leather like you’ll find on Dr Martens.

Best of all, the leather is ethically sourced from Tier 1 USA cattle and made exclusively at tanneries that get high marks on environmental practices from the Leather Working Group.

Thursday’s Coda Boot Heel and Sole

• 2.5-inch heel
• Lightweight, durable, flexible, and shock absorbant sole

Now let’s talk about the outsoles. With a 2.5-inch chunky and seriously grippy heel, these outsoles are made of an environmentally friendly material called Rubflex. It’s lightweight, highly durable, flexible, and porous, which makes it quite comfy to walk around in (aside from the ankle-rubbing), especially when paired with the boots’ Poron shock-absorbing insoles.

A lot of traditionally made boots are only leather and cork in the construction, making for something that slowly gets comfortable over many months, but never feels like a sneaker. The Poron avoids that walking-on-hardwood feeling of old fashioned boots, blurring the line between sneaker and boot.

Thursday’s Coda Construction

• Cemented construction
• Not resoleable, but more lighweight and flexible as a result

To understand a boot’s construction, you need a little primer: high end men’s boots are made with Goodyear welts, which make them easy to resole so they can last for years, sometimes decades. 

Thursday’s men’s boots are made this way, but after much trial and error, they learned that their female customers preferred the simpler cemented construction. This is basically how sneakers are made: the upper is affixed to the sole with adhesive. 

Never fear, though: cemented construction is preferred by many because it’s lighter, more flexible, and often more water resistant than a Goodyear welt. With less of a break in than the stiff “GYW” boots, Thursday learned this was the preferred way to make their women’s boots, and it makes them cost less than the men’s line to boot.

So, no, you can’t get these resoled. But it keeps them comfier, and the sole is so darn thick you’ll probably never need to resole them anyway.

[Related: How to Size Thursday Boots]

The Takeaway

Ringing in at $180 a pair (or $190 for the Black and Gold version, due to its extra hardware) these boots aren’t cheap, but they’re well-priced for the quality of their construction and materials.

Being direct-to-consumer means Thursday cuts out the margins of brick and mortar stores, keeping things affordable without sacrificing quality. And although I personally have continued to wear them with thick socks and heel liners to prevent them from tearing up my (famously bony) left ankle, the Coda boots remain some of my favorite boots in my closet.