Thursday Boots is expanding its offering for women.
The New York-based footwear company has launched its first-ever sneaker collection for women on Thursday. The leather low-top style comes in six colorways across two collections – Classic and Heritage – and features custom dual-density natural rubber outsoles and Vachetta leather insoles.
For founder and designer Nolan Walsh, adding women’s sneakers was only a matter of time since friends, family and customers keep asking for it. “Truthfully, we were always hesitant about expanding into sneakers,” Walsh told FN in an exclusive interview. “Once we really did our diligence on the market, we felt that we could do something special by sticking true to our focus on the highest quality materials and our low mark-up philosophy.”
This low mark-up philosophy that Walsh noted is continued with the women’s sneaker launch, with pricing for the women’s sneaker styles landing at $129 retail.
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Thursday Boot, which launched in 2014, was created by Walsh and partner Connor Wilson, both graduates of Columbia Business School. The two decided to step into shoe industry after bonding over their mutual passion for footwear and their goal of offering trend-right looks at affordable prices. Since then, their handcrafted boot styles have resonated in both the men’s and women’s markets.
The company, which originally debuted with men’s boots, first added a range of women’s boots to its line in Nov. 2016. It then revamped its men’s dress shoe collection in June 2018 and launched its first sneaker collection for men in Sept. 2020.
Asked about how business has been since the onset of the pandemic, Walsh declared that “business has been great,” but the last few years have “underscored the importance of focus, strong relationships with our manufacturing partners, and customer-centricity.”
“When supply chains were at their most uncertain in 2020, I spent more time working at the factory level than at our NYC headquarters,” Walsh told FN. “We built up our local teams and made sure to operate with a steady hand from both a production and customer communications perspective. This has helped build stronger relationships on both ends of the product life cycle.”
Walsh continued, “As everyone reading this knows, there is still significant macroeconomic uncertainty. Sourcing new production capacity, the shifting digital market landscape, and inflation all present meaningful short-term challenges that we view as long-term opportunities on the path to building a business that stands the test of time. We couldn’t be more excited about the future.”
Looking ahead, Walsh noted that there will be a lot of big releases coming out this year. “The fall launch calendar is already full with what I think are some of our best men’s and women’s boots to date,” Walsh said.
