Thursday Boots Legend Women’s Chelsea Review | The Ultimate Everyday Boot

It’s a bold move to call a boot The Legend. But for Thursday Boot Company, the bold naming choice comes with the goods to back it up. Here, we have a classic Chelsea boot with an edge: durable materials, a rugged outsole, a sleek everyday shape that will pair with — and stand up to — just about anything you throw at it.

There’s a reason this is Thursday’s most popular women’s boot.

So let’s go deep on why The Legend is so legendary, shall we?

Pros & Cons: Thursday Boots Legend for Women

Pros

• Classic Chelsea boot, but with an edgier, more rugged profile
• Sleek and spunky, perfect for pairing with pants and skirts of all widths and lengths
• Lug soles provide ample traction
• Soft and cozy full glove lining
• $160 is a great value for this boot
• Comes in 5 leathers and two sole heights

Cons

• Run quite small and narrow compared to other Thursday offerings
• Maybe too “rugged” looking for some
• Pull tab on the heel doesn’t quite fit my finger

The Company: Thursday boots

Thursday Boot Company began in 2014 when two friends, Connor Wilson and Nolan Walsh, wanted some boots, found all the good ones to cost north of $300, and saw a need in the footwear market for resoleable boots that wouldn’t break the bank.

They went with a direct-to-consumer model to reduce the markup from traditional brick-and-mortar stores, and slowly built a collection, starting with men’s boots and eventually branching out to a wide variety of women’s styles. Their Chelsea boots called The Duchess and The Legend have risen to the top of the pile as the bestsellers on the women’s side.

The Style: Thursday Boots Women’s Legend Chelsea

• Thick lug soles
• Classic Chelsea silhouette
• Attractive 1.5-inch heel
• Looks great with jeans or a skirt
• “Platform” style available with a 2-inch heel

The Legend is a Chelsea boot with an edgier, more rugged profile thanks to its “StormKing” rubber lug outsoles. In other words, it’s the classic and sleek Chelsea you love but with more functional grip.

Built for comfort and designed for longevity, these Commando soles provide added durability, traction, and brawn to the traditional Chelsea silhouette.

The Chelsea boot’s emblematic strip of flexible elastic goring—created for easily slipping the boot on and off—is fully present and accounted for along both the interior and exterior ankle.

A classic pull tab on the back of the heel is there to aid the slip-on process even further, though I wish it was just a hair larger for easier finger-insertion. The 5-inch shaft hits mid-ankle, and the 1.5-inch heel is pure rubber, with that quintessential serrated tread to keep you from slipping.

The Legend’s shape is at once both sleek and spunky, perfect for pairing with pants and skirts of all widths and lengths, whether you’re walking in the woods or hitting up a gallery opening in the city.

The boot comes in 4 leather options: mine are Black Matte Leather and the others are waterproof nubuck: a medium brown “Safari”, a dark brown “Truffle”, and a light brown “Pebble.”

Nubuck is often mistaken for suede as it’s nappier than regular leather, but it’s a little harder wearing and not quite as “fuzzy” as suede. Thursday also treats their nubuck to be extra waterproof by imbuing it with an array of oils and waxes during its production. In other words: just because it’s not full grain leather doesn’t mean you need to worry about getting it wet.

If you’re looking for a Legend that’s even taller and even luggier, they’ve got two black platform versions that have 2″ heels.

The Sizing & Fit: Thursday Boots Women’s Legend Chelsea

• Narrow and short, size up at least a half size, and full size if you want to wear thick socks
• Wide widths available

I found these boots to run quite small and narrow compared to other Thursday offerings. My usual size 9 felt tight on my toes even with thin socks on, and while these boots will form to your feet over time, I would have sized up to a 9.5 given the chance.

Other users seemed to have similar experiences, so I’d suggest checking the size guide and going up at least half a size from your usual—maybe a full size if you plan to wear these babies with thicker socks. Also consider sizing up if your feet aren’t particularly narrow.

The Materials: Thursday Boots Women’s Legend Chelsea

• Durable, easy-to-maintain leather
• Soft leather lining

Thursday’s “Rugged & Resilient” leather is built for durability, and to age like a fine wine. Made with Tier 1 hides from USA cattle and tanned at Mexico’s most sustainable tannery, it was created developed by and for Thursday with the goal of making something very easy to care for, as opposed to leathers that need a layer of conditioning cream every other month. (This is good for me, someone who has never shined a shoe in my life).

And the full glove leather interior lining means that even though they’re tough on the outside, they’re soft and cozy on the inside.

The Soles: Thursday Boots Women’s Legend Chelsea

• Thick, durable, and grippy lug soles

The Legend’s StormKing rubber lug outsoles are worth writing home about. I love how durable and thick they feel under my feet, and how the hardy lugs keep my clumsy ass from slipping even when I’m running to get somewhere I am late to on slippery New York City sidewalks.

As someone with a strong affinity for lug soles— they make me feel cooler and tougher, in addition to keeping me from falling—I also love how they look.

Style-wise, the lugs bring a bit of a ‘90s edge to a classically ‘60s boot shape. And as long as they fit you right (don’t miss my note above about sizing), the Poron Shock-Absorbing Insoles ensure a comfortable footbed. Meaning, these boots should require little to no break-in period and absorb shock much better than traditionally made, Goodyear welted boots.

Construction: Thursday Boots Women’s Legend Chelsea

• Flexible cemented construction with no break in
• Not resoleable
• Water-resistant, not waterproof

While most men’s boots form Thursday are made with Goodyear welt construction (a.k.a. GYW), the Legend, like most of Thursday’s women’s boots, is cemented. This means the top of the boot is glued directly to the sole—no heavy layers of leather and cork and steel that are common on the men’s side of boots.

Thursday found that the customers on their women’s line prefer cemented construction instead: it keeps them lighter and more flexible than the work boot-like feel some like for men’s boots, plus it lowers to cost of production to help Thursday keep the Legend’s price at a jaw dropping $160.

It also means you can’t resole them. But that shouldn’t be a huge problem; the StormKing rubber lug outsoles are so thick and durable you’ll get years out of these.

And though the lack of a waterproof membrane means they’re not 100% waterproof, I found the construction, leather, and tall soles to be perfectly water resistant for my regular activities of stomping around Brooklyn snow and puddles. Just don’t stand in ankle-deep water for extended periods of time.

Wrapping Up: Thursday Boots Legend Women’s Chelsea Review

Whatever your personal style, this is a great boot. You can dress it up or down, and even go on a moderate hike with it. The lack of laces mean it’s not the perfect boot for serious hikes and the chunky soles mean it’s not quite as versatile as their low profile Duchess Chelsea, but if you’d like a more functional and grippy women’s boot that isn’t heavy, stiff, chunky, or overpriced, I think the Legend is an excellent sweet spot for ladies who need boots that have both form and function.

As long as you make sure to get the sizing right, it should treat you with tender love and care for years and years to come. And for a mere $160, I think that is pretty legendary indeed.