Ultimate Guide To Buying Mens Dress Boots Different Boot Styles Chelsea Chukka Lace-Up

So, I have over thirty pairs of shoes in my wardrobe, yet over the last six months I’ve noticed that I’ve worn one pair probably 50% of the time. So, what is this style that’s getting a disproportionate number of wears and basically has been my favorite go-to shoe for the last few months? Guys, I can tell you it’s not a shoe, it’s the dress boot. And in today’s post, gents, the ultimate guide for buying the right dress boot for you. All right, gents, I’m going to break this post up into three parts. First off, I’m going to talk about the why. Why do you want to incorporate dress boots into your wardrobe? Next, I’m going to talk about the what. What exactly are dress boots? Finally, I’m going to talk about the how. How to incorporate dress boots into your wardrobe? Ready, guys? Let’s get into it. Point number one. Why. Why all the love for dress boots? I can tell you guys over the last six months 50% of the time when I leave my house I’m wearing dress boots and I wear them because they’re comfortable.

Ultimate Guide To Buying Mens Dress Boots Different Boot Styles Chelsea Chukka Lace-Up Photo Gallery

I wear them because they’re versatile. I wear them because they have traction and I live in part of the country where we get rain, we get sleet. We’re already starting to get, you know, a little bit of frost in the morning and it’s really nice. When I go to watch my son’s football game, I’m going up and down in the bleachers and I’m not worried about falling down. They look great. I can dress them up, I can dress them down. And it really it’s the same boot, I get compliments on them. All of these that’s what I love about the dress boot, it is so versatile, so comfortable, and can give you so much traction. Now, a company I want to bring to your attention, guys, that I’ve been field testing for over six months, Thursday Boots. I’ve got a couple of different pairs right here, so definitely check them out. Guys, I’m going to link to them down in the description. Now, a couple of things I want to bring to your attention about Thursday Boots.

Number one, the leather they use is from the Horween tannery in Chicago, Illinois. They use a buttery soft inner glove lining which I noticed this when I first got these boots and I was asking Nolan which I spoke with one of the founders and he was telling me about why they chose this lining how it makes the boot more comfortable. In my experience in hot and cool weather this is actually true. They’ve got an EVA comfort strip and they’ve got a cork bed midsole that molds the foot. What this means guys is that you’ll be able to wear this for fourteen, sixteen hours and they’re going to feel great. Finally, guys, I need to really point out, the price point is amazing. So, if you haven’t heard of this company, guys, in my Facebook group I’ve been talking it. You definitely want to go check them out. Point number two. What exactly is a dress boot? And what should you be looking for when you’re going out there and buying your first pair? So, guys, you’re going to see three common styles of dress boots. You’re going to see the Chelsea, you’re going to see the Chukka, you’re going to see the laced dress boot. I’m not going to tell you which one is right for you, it depends on your needs, but let me help you understand how each of them are different.

So, the Chelsea is going to be lace less and that’s the key characteristic with this dress boot. It’s usually going to have elastic on the sides. Most modern Chelseas aren’t going to go more than two inches higher than a pair of dress shoes and they’re just going to barely cover the ankle. Now, the interesting thing about the Chelsea is of all the dress boots I’ve mentioned it’s usually going to be the most formal because the base design of it is from a dress shoe. So, you’re going to see a leather sole, you’re going to see a more delicate design, and basically the bottom of it right here isn’t you’re not going to see much traction on most Chelseas out there. Now, some Chelseas you will see are actually made for winter and are going to actually have a rubber sole put over the leather and they also may have a zipper on the inside. Those, you don’t really see them too much in the United States, but if you’re going to look for something for cold weather, that may be an option. The second style I want to talk about is the Chukka design. This comes from the desert boot. It’s going to be both informal and casual styles. Oftentimes it’s the materials and slight differences in the details of the boot which are going to be either make it casual or dressier. This pair right here is going to be dressier I can tell by the leather sole, the thickness of the sole the upper and smoothness of the leather and the design.

The lace itself that’s used here usually you’re going to see anywhere from two to four eyelets, but right here as you can tell it doesn’t go up very high. A more casual one, we would see a rubber sole, we probably see maybe three or four eyelets, we may be see more casual material up here use on the upper, but that is the Chukka. Now, the laced boot. This one right here oftentimes we’re going to see as more casual. This is not going to be something you would normally wear with a suit. You will see most of them are going to have derby type of open lacing systems. A close lacing system like you would see with an Oxford is very rare on a laced booting system like this because the laces themselves make this therefore a more informal shoe. Now, what I really like about this design right here is that this one right here is made from a combat boot or a work boot heritage. So, it’s going to be very, very comfortable yet it’s going to be have traction down here at the bottom. You’re going to notice it does not have it’s going to have some leather right in here, but overall it’s going to have a rubber sole. This one made by Thursday Boots is going to have, you know, that cork insert that I talked about here. Also, the upper itself is going to have that that glove lining on the inside.

But, overall we see that this one has, you know, just double stitching right over and around here. So, it’s got leather laid over leather. What that does is, again, it adds a bit to the design, but it also makes the boot more casual. But, let’s start to look now at the toe. Notice this one right here has a plain toe. This one right here has what’s known as a capped toe. This pair of boots right here, notice all of the design, this here has a winged tip. So, that will be the final thing that you’ll start to notice in all the boots. You’ll notice that also in chukkas and Chelseas as well, so that’s not exclusive to the laced boot design, but anytime we start to bring in ornamentation we start to bring in all of these design we start to bring contrast stitching, all of this is going to make the boot more casual. Now, I know I could have gone into a lot more detail about all the pieces of the boot. Definitely go check out the infographic guys. I put together an awesome infographic, we’re going to break out all the detail I talked about plus more and so, you definitely want to go check that out.

Point number three, gents. How to pull off dress boots in your wardrobe. So, I’ve talked about Chelseas, you can actually a black dark brown wear those with a suit. But, boots like this are going to more casual in nature, therefore you’re going to want to match them with jeans. Really the rubber sole, the lacing system as I talked about this is something that’s naturally going to work with jeans. So, you can wear this with pretty much all the jeans whether they’d be a bit more, you know, casual lighter color or darker colored denim which I recommend. You can also wear this with chinos, a wide variety of trousers made from different materials. I’ve got a pair of olive green moleskin that I pull off with this. You can also pull off a pair of gray flannels. The great thing about this is anything not a suit not dress up to that level, you can pull off with this. So, when it comes to the trousers you’ve got that covered. Now, let’s go into shirts.

So, all of a sudden you want to look at any type of button down, maybe polos. You can pull off a great well-fitted t-shirt with any of the trousers I just talked about with these boots, instantly it’s going to look up. You’re going to have that one item that people are instantly drawn to because boots shoes in general are an end point and therefore grab people’s attention. But, don’t just stop with the shirts. Maybe you wanted to wear that polo or that t-shirt of that button down, maybe thrown in a sports jacket if you want to go more casual throw a leather jacket over that t-shirt. Maybe look to throw a jean jacket. Very see see all the things that you can do with this and that’s, again, gents, why I love the dress boot. You can dress it up, dress it down, it’s going to give you traction it’s going to get you compliments. Overall, guys, a great piece to add to your wardrobe. And if you’re looking for a company to support, check out Thursday Boots. Like I said for six months I’ve been wearing this for the last month I’ve been wearing this and I can tell you, these things are made well, they’re at a great price point. Even the name Thursday comes from the fact that when they founded the company they wanted the idea of a boot the works hard for you like you do on a Thursday, but the weekend is in sight that literally you can wear these to work then you can wear them out to play in the evening night out with the buds.

So, guys, great company, definitely go check them out. Let me know what you think down in the comments. I’ll see you in the next post.