Thursday Boot Company is expanding into women’s.
The brand that has been offering men’s boots for two years believes it can fill a niche in the competitive women’s market by offering pieces with the same aesthetic and philosophy as its men’s collection.
Nolan Walsh, cofounder, said the company has been “passionate” about getting into women’s for a while now. “I have two sisters and half of our team is women,” he said. “But more than that, we see the same gap as we saw with men’s. It made sense for the development of our business and we didn’t want to be a unisex brand.”
He said top-end designers offer attractive footwear “but wearability is an afterthought.” Instead, Thursday Boot is zeroing in on comfort as well as attractive styles. “Style is crucial, but with all the women’s footwear brands, none explain the technical specs, and we believe women care about specs.”
For example, the description of the Downtown Bootie explains that the model offers a full-grain leather upper, glove leather interior lining with a waterproof coating, a zipper with a leather pull, a padded comfort insole, a wood and rubber heel and a grooved outsole. They retail for $149 and are available in five colors.
Other styles include the Uptown, a three-inch heeled bootie available in three colors for $169; the Duchess, a Chelsea boot in three colors for $169; the President, a lace-up in three colors for $189, and the Modern, a dressier three-inch heeled boot in two colors for $199.
The men’s line is sold on the company’s web site as well as at Amazon and Trunk Club, Walsh said, but the women’s will be sold exclusively on the brand’s e-commerce site starting today.
Walsh said Thursday Boot has raised some capital to fund this expansion and combined that with the cash flow from the existing business.