Wearing good boots in a country environment? How nice can I look for dirty daily living?

[u/themanualist]

I'm new to buying "nice" footwear. I've worn Ariat distressed square toes for probably ten years and this year decided I'd like to look a little more stylish, which led me up a step to Florsheim, Johnston and Murphy, Thursday, etc. I'm looking at something like a plain chelsea, but even something as fancy as a laced captoe with zipper side.

The question: There doesn't seem to be a clear-cut distinction between "dress boots" and just nice boots. They ALL look nicer than what I wear.I love how a lot of these nicer boots look. They seem sooo nice. That's the problem. I will wear them out to let out chickens when the yard is a little muddy, when grass is recently cut, etc. I live in the country, might walk down the road a ways. Do folks wear these "nicer" boots daily in these settings?

I guess I'm trying to convince myself that its okay to buy nice boots and for them to be dusty and a little scuffed for the most part. Otherwise I'll never buy anything nice. I'll only have "work boots" from the tractor store. Do folks buy these nicer brands and "wear them hard"? I don't mean digging muddy ditches, but daily country style living?

[u/Vetiverrr]

To answer your question, no, you should not wear dress boots for country work, but instead just get some sleek looking work boots, think RM Williams etc. Also some higher quality roper boots would be a good choice. I would recommend to go for suede, as slightly lower leather quality would not be as visible as with smooth leather.

[u/themanualist → u/Vetiverrr]

Thank you. I guess one of my confusions was how to tell, on those popular sites (Florsheim, Johnston & Murphy, etc.) if they are basically all dress boots or if only the flashier ones are "dress" and the others are passable as work. For example the Johnston & Murphy XC4 Maddox Chelsea is waterproof and looks tough, but across those sites there's no clear dress/light work line so I'm having trouble finding it. But thank you again.

[u/whatmycouchwore → u/themanualist]

The term “dress boot” isn’t as specific as other dress shoe-related terms because boots are (mostly) not dressy. There’s a spectrum obviously with some looking dressier than others, but they can run from tough Iron Rangers on the work-end to something like the leather soled Allen Edmonds Park Ave boot on the other. The “inbetween” you’re looking for that can be dressed up and handle a beating sounds like a service boot, which is a military-inspired boot with a leather upper and hearty sole. There’s tons of options (check out r/goodyearwelt at the peril of your wallet), but for something you can shine up, wear out, and won’t break the bank, Thursday Captains are a good starting point.

[u/_Sammy7_ → u/themanualist]

Look for thick soles with a good tread. Work boots will never have leather soles.

[u/raggedsweater]

For a quick history lesson on durable boots covering a broad range of working professions, take a look at these lines from White’s. Each boot style in those categories come with a short paragraph describing what the boots were originally designed for. All of these are proper work boots or something in-between before you get to a dressy category.

Thursday boots are not really built for hard workwear. I wear mine to do weekend chores, but I don’t work in a more demanding setting such as yours. They are good everyday casual boots, but with regular wear will break down in a few years.

Florsheim, Johnston Murphy. Allen Edmonds are dressy boots. Some of their heritage boots could be worn in the country for sure, but they aren’t meant for grassy or muddy wear.

[u/CuboneDota]

I’d recommend grant stone brass boots or field boots for what you want to do. They are high quality rugged boots that will look better with some wear. 

[u/Perfect_Earth_8070]

what is your budget looking like? i would not buy anything from any of those brands tbh

yes. people wear “nicer boots” to wear them hard. if by nicer you mean better build quality.

if you’re after a dressier boot, i would just use them when you’re dressing up and continue using your ariats to work in

[u/The_Ace]

Not really, I’d still wear work boots for daily country use which is basically ‘work’ in this case. Certainly buy some nice boots as well, but reserve them for when you’re dressing up the rest of your outfit too. You’re probably not wearing a nice button down while you’re feeding chickens either right?

[u/Inevitable_Lemon_592]

The Thursday Captains seem the most versatile. Looks Iike something you could wear walking through a muddy forest, in the city, to a 9-5, snowy day, whatever. And not too metro/european like the Chelsea boots where it’s more about form than function, Chelsea boots won’t work in non-metropolis in America without looking out of place to rednecks who wear steel toe timberland boots.

The Thursday captains are the winner for me, they are stylish timeless yet utilitarian. For me would be black Chelsea boots and brown Thursday captains (I also have one pair of wheat colored timberlands from way back for more casual/street)

[u/whatmycouchwore → u/Inevitable_Lemon_592]

I’m with you on Thursday - I can wear my Cadets with a coat/tie in the office or jeans when I’m out running errands. I don’t baby them like I do my dress shoes, but they get a lot more care (regular cleaning, conditioner, etc) than my winter and yardwork boots so they stay nice. I really want to pick up a pair of Captains or their MiUSA Vanguard boots next.

[u/icedoutclockwatch → u/Inevitable_Lemon_592]

Blundstones Chelsea’s would fit right in.

[u/Inevitable_Lemon_592 → u/icedoutclockwatch]

Chelsea’s are a very metro shoe, they’d look too “feminine” in most places in America. “Real men wear laces” type of thing

[u/lajinsa_viimeinen]

Brogued boots were invented for countryside shitt kicking. For example, these Loake "Bedale" are perfect: