The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.
![best fall boots men]()
- Each year, the dizzying lineup of fall boots grows ever larger, making the decision of decking out your feet just that much more difficult.
- Thursday Boot Co. makes our favorite pairs, but we're also big fans of fall boots made by Dr. Martens, Taft Boots, Frye, and L.L. Bean.
Fall is here, and it's time to break out heavier footwear as we meander toward winter. Ditching your sandals may be good riddance or a bitter defeat for you, but Insider Picks is here to help you find your fall footwear whether you're going for trendy avant-gardes, timeless classics, or something in between.
First, let's consider where these boots will be walking. Cobbled streets laden with mysterious mud, sludge, and slime? Go for rubber or PVC and leave those leather soles alone — you'll only trash them. The office for a big board meeting? Revisit said leather soles — you might not want to rock up in Doc Martens looking like you just stumbled out of the darkest, dingiest bar in the dirtiest, oldest part of town.
You'll also want to keep the temperature and weather in mind. Is fall a wet proposition where you live? If so, think about avoiding suede which will, more likely than not, end up looking pretty raggedy come December. A full-grain leather with a waterproofing solution or balm like ScotchGuard or one of Dr. Martens' signature shoe polishes is always a good idea.
After fashion comes function and comfort, of course. A lace-free Chelsea boot might be the most accommodating boot of all fall options and you can pull them off in just about any setting. But then, maybe you don't like that distracting patch of synthetic nylon breaking up the beautiful, shiny, natural leather for which you've paid such a premium. In that case, maybe a zippered boot with a harness or a full lace-up is your best bet.
When it comes to the leather you choose, try to go with the highest quality you can afford. All leather will break up and crease over time, but cheaper leather boots will almost always crease more and break up sooner.
Whatever your taste, we've got a pair of fall boots to suit your style and need below.
Here are the best places to buy fall boots for men:
Read on in the slides below to learn more about our top picks.
The best fall boots overall
![]()
Why you'll love them: Thursday Boot Co.'s boots are sleek enough for the office or formal wear, but rugged enough to handle the snottiest of cold, wet, fall weather.
Somewhere in the crux between metropolitan and cowboy, Thursday Boot Co.'s boots would not be out of place in any closet, from country-boy wranglers to city-slicking dandies and everyone in between.
Most of the brand's boots can either be dressed down with jeans or paired just as well with a pair of pleated khakis. The soles vary as much as the styles, so there's everything from delicate cork (which we wouldn't necessarily suggest wearing to trudge through winter) to hardy Goodyear Welts and Vibram outsoles. Same goes for the leather.
The Insider Picks team reviewed Thursday Boot Co.'s line back in early 2017 when the company was just getting going, and sentiments around the office, I can safely report, have not changed.
Outside of our team, other reviewers love these boots, too. One prime example is this YouTube review by a blogger and world-traveler who wore Thursdays every day for five months straight, through snow, rain, streets, and even steep, rugged terrain. His verdict: they're mostly worth it, but the insoles wore out on him eventually, and he found the laces to be substandard. The outsoles, however, got along pretty much unscathed, and the leather did not crease much.
Pros: Good quality leather, tough outsole
Cons: Cheap insoles and laces
The best urban boots for fall
![]()
Why you’ll love them: Doc Martens are made with top-notch materials, handled with love, and rife with history.
Dr. Martens’ AirWair is an emblematic piece of footwear synonymous with the predominant sub- and counter-cultures of every decade since their introduction in 1960: the skinheads in the sixties, the punk rockers in the seventies, the new wave artists of the eighties, and the grunge scene in the nineties.
Today, they may be more ubiquitous than ever. Just keep in mind that what we wear will always say a little something about us, whether we like it or not.
Doc Märtens’ first endeavor in footwear came during his time serving as a doctor in the Alps during World War II. After having hurt his foot while skiing (presumably during R&R), he decided that the standard military-issued boots he’d been wearing just weren’t sufficient enough for him to nurse his foot, so he thriftily cobbled together a pair of his own using softer leather and rubber from discarded tires.
Back in Munich, Märtens bumped into an old friend who was intrigued by his innovation and the two teamed up, refining the design some, adding the signature yellow stitching, and anglicizing Märtens’ name. That first year, Martens’ soles were, maybe not so ironically, a big hit with housewives — and more specifically, women over 40 — who accounted for about 80% of sales within the enterprise’s first decade.
Recent years have shown the company its fair share of hardships, and the brand briefly shuttered most of its production houses and stores in the UK in the early 2000s. The company seems to have bounced back in recent years, however, and in early 2018 Business Insider reported that Dr. Martens has been producing some 10 million pairs annually.
Dr. Martens’ AirWairs are some of the most durable and versatile kicks around. Let’s start with the air-cushioned soles. They’re not glued but melted to the welts using hot blades and rollers so that as both components cool, they forge one single piece of inseparable PVC. if you don’t believe me, watch this delightful Insider video to see just how well they’re made. If the de facto black is a little too punk rock or goth for your taste, there’s always cherry red, navy, green, and white.
Sadly, the company has discontinued its “for life” boots, which were about three times expensive, a little sturdier (and heavier), and guaranteed — with free repairs — for life. The base model 1460s and 1490s are a more-than-reasonable middle-of-the-road boot well worth their price tag for anyone plying muck-ridden urban streets and sidewalks. Just be sure to pick up a tub of the Wonder Balsam to treat the leather (at least once) before you wear them. It’s worth it.
Pros: Sole and welt are melted together and will never separate, affordable, waterproof, air-cushioned soles
Cons: The “For Life” boots are discontinued, and these soles will likely wear out after a few years (like many of not most boots in this price range)
The best classic boots for fall
![]()
Why you'll love them: Frye's boots will never go out of style because they are classic, high-quality, leather boots.
There's hardly another boot out there that comes anywhere near as close as Frye does to speaking to the heart of Americana, and the wild westerner that is surely alive and well somewhere inside each and every one of us.
Frye has been making boots for a century and a half, staying true as glue to everything the company and its boots ever stood for. It's done custom work for everyone from Gene Autry to Carole King and Richard Nixon.
Still, the company hasn't shied away from modernizing, which comes welcome to those of us who wish we could rock fully ornate cowboy boots in the office, but just can't quite pull it off.
I have a pair of Sam Harness boots from Frye that I bought more than a decade ago. Everything on them has stayed perfectly intact, though several months of trodding through the brick and cobbled streets of Lisbon almost daily put a bit of a hurt on the cork soles, which could stand to be repaired.
I'll go to a cobbler for this and probably spend the better part of a Benjamin, but it is undoubtedly worth it for me. If that's all that most of a decade's worth of extensive and abusive wear and tear costs me to get these boots back up to snuff, that still, year over year, keeps my footwear expenses low.
Reviews we came across on the web were generally in the vein of this one by the financial advice website Wise Bread. Frye might not make the trendiest boots on the planet, but the boots sit atop a throne of timeless simplicity that no ephemeral fashion trend or season will ever usurp.
Pros: Tough suede, no creasing, leather sole, subtly sleek and classic style
Cons: Frye now only offers a one-year warranty (it used to be three), if you buy a pair with soles make of cork, they'll wear out faster; the company has taken most if not all production to Mexico and China, and skepticism is burgeoning over whether Frye boots will hold the same standard of quality going forward
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Although some believe falling in love takes time, others fall in love quickly— and get engaged quickly, too. 
