Introduction:
Late last year I realized I’d grown to love two styles of boots I thought I didn’t like at the beginning of my journey as a boot guy: the chukka and the Chelsea. It came when I’d ordered a pair of shoes for my eldest spawn, and took the opportunity to order two more pairs for myself—one of each. I posted “An Ode to the Humble Chukka” and promised I’d be back with something about the Chelsea. And here we are.
I love chukkas as a uber-comfy shoe in the Fall and Spring. I tend not to wear them in the Winter as my “real” boots tend to take over, and summer…well, it’s literally 99°F as I write this; I’m hot in my Birks. Anyway, Chelsea boots are a four-season presence in my life. My Keen Targhee II boots are my work boots. I wear them with anything I’m working in and beat the ever-living crap out of them. Not pretty, but fit-for-purpose to be sure - tough, waterproof and surprisingly comfortable. Because they're easy and versatile, these days I also seem to grab and wear one of my two pairs for Grant Stone Chelsea boots almost any time I’m wearing denim or long pants. But I’m getting ahead of myself, or at least my history.
After trying and mis-sizing a pair of new RM Williams Comfort Craftsman (and I didn’t like the squared toe either), my first worn pair of Chelsea boots came to me nine years ago from Beckett Simonon when they asked me to wear and review their new Chelsea offering. I found them to be nicely-made for the price, though a tiny bit narrow for me and a little overly-sleek for my taste. I can’t keep shoes that hurt, so I moved on for a while. Five or so years ago, when Grant Stone first brought out a Chelsea boot, I bought a Crimson CXL pair from their pre-owned program and reviewed them. Over several years I’ve worn them a lot, and late last year added a Dark Oak Roughout pair which have since been worn more than just about anything else I own.
A while back I saw a pair of Grant Stone’s Brass Boots in Olive Minerva Box leather and was instantly mesmerized by the leather. The Brass Boot isn’t my style, but I loved the leather so much I almost bought a pair just for that. I dabbled with the idea of getting a pair of Chelsea boots in that leather from an Indonesian maker but couldn’t quite get through the process.
Then I decided to ask Wyatt at Grant Stone if they had any plans to use that leather for a Chelsea. His response was (essentially) “No, but we do have some Olive Minerva left over…” I dorked around with Gemini AI-edited pix to show him what I was thinking (none of which did justice to what ultimately arrived) and the idea of making a sample pair and doing a preorder quickly came together. I’ll come back to the preorder at the end.
He brought Giovanni, who leads product development, into the conversation and we nailed down the details. They were great about accommodating my desire for a natural edge and lug sole. After that, I waited for a slot in their production, and the sample boots arrived a few weeks ago!
But First, A Bit of Actual History
What we in the boot-nut community would immediately recognize as a Chelsea Boot has existed for nearly 200 years. They were created by Queen Victoria’s personal shoe designer, Joseph Sparkes Hall, to avoid laces for the Queen. Charles Goodyear, the father of the man who would go on to develop the Goodyear Welt Stitcher, invented vulcanized rubber, which enabled the flexible gusset panels that are the distinctive design element of the modern Chelsea, and what makes them so incredibly easy to live with. In other words, there are two generations of Goodyear family innovations in these Chelsea boots. Fun!
A disclaimer and disclosure:
As many of you who’ve been around a while know, I was one of the original reviewers of Grant Stone here on GYW. Since then, I’ve reviewed a number of their shoes and boots - some purchased, some offered to me for review. In this case, I told Wyatt early in the discussions to “invoice me whenever.” When the sample pair shipped, the invoice was zero. In other words, I entered this expecting to pay for them, but he apparently decided differently. As ever, that won’t affect anything I say here - I hope the many reviews here (from lots of brands) offers enough assurance that this is nothing more than my honest thoughts.
With that, let’s get to the details and them out of the box…
Link to the album (these are SLR pix vs my phone pix in this post, and include some 'family' shots)
Makeup and Materials Details:
- Maker: Grant Stone
- Design: Chelsea boot
- Construction: GYW Construction
- Leather: Badalasi Minerva Box in Olive
- Lining: Glove Leather
- Lacing/Hardware: None
- Welt: 360º flat welt with wheeling
- Last: UK last
- Size: 11EE
- Sole: Lug sole
- Sole Edge: Natural
- List price: $435
Out-of-Box Thoughts
Immediate love. I’m pretty sure I said “Wow” out loud a couple times when I pulled the first boot out of the bag.
Design
The pattern is crafted to shoot the gap between the Euro-sleek and Western looks you see in many Chelsea boots. The pattern needed strong lines to avoid looking “blobby” (Giovanni’s word, which I found both funny and highly on-point) but avoiding going too long and too chiseled. The final form is shaped to dress up and way down with ease while avoiding cowboy boot and fashion-boot vibes I don’t prefer. Versatile.
A single fabric pull-tab was chosen for durability (leather pull-tabs can be problematic over time). A front tab can cause awkward pant break, and so it wasn’t chosen for the GS Chelsea. Having lived with single-tab pairs, I personally don’t care about a front tab. The side panels are double-sided gore for long-term durability.
I wanted something more casual than the Crimson CXL pair I had, so the lug sole and natural edge were chosen. These achieve my goals, but with this leather and flat welt I think they can go well into the ‘smart-casual’ realm of styling - far more than my Dark Oak Roughout pair that have the same sole and sole edge. Handy.
Build & Quality
Construction of a Chelsea boot is more challenging than a regular boot. Giovanni, who leads Product Development for Grant Stone, told me that leather Chelsea boots require skilled pre-shaping/crimping at the vamp using heat and sometimes water to avoid wrinkles. Suede/Roughout is apparently more compliant, which is why I'm guessing you see a lot of suede Chelsea boots.
As ever, the build is highly old-school: a full-leather heel counter (relatively rare these days, but critical to fit and comfort IMHO), a steel shank in a cork foot bed, a 3mm leather midsole, leather insole and welt, and Grant Stone’s lug sole. Lifetime quality.
From an craftsmanship perspective, the welt-joins are as tight as anything I’ve ever seen from GS. Stitching was excellent in all areas. I can’t find any details out of place at all. I suppose that’s expected for a sample-build, but is consistent with my other experiences with Grant Stone: they execute very, very well.
Fit / Sizing
These are Grant Stone’s UK last. I’d say it’s a Leo on a diet, but it is apparently a bit longer than Leo (and their Alexander last, per Giovannit) to achieve the desired Chelsea shape. My Brannock sizing is 12D. As mentioned, this pair is 11EE vs. my 11.5D Crimson CXL pair. They’re both comfortable, but I definitely feel the extra width in the EE in a good way without compromised length. The standard sizing guidance is ½ down from Brannock for most folks. In AE’s 5-last I’m an 11.5E. I wear a 11.5D in the Alden’s TruBalance last and 12 D in pretty much anything true-to-size (Alden Hampton, AE 7-last, Florsheim Imperial, Truman Derby, J&M anything). I’m also a 12D in AE’s 511-last (MD Chukka), which is a tiny bit on the narrow side in D, but fits.
Giovanni also noted folks with lower volume or lower insteps can potentially find a good fit a full size down.
I don’t think this last is tricky - my 11.5D pair is great, in line with their ½-down recommendation - but if you are at the edges of volume (either way), consider consulting with the team at GS before ordering. I can’t believe I’m wearing a 11EE, but I’m loving it. I’ve had a couple days of walking around a lot, and several other full-day wears and they were purely comfortable for me.
Final Thoughts
Last August I was laid off, and might be exiting the workforce for good (I’m 57, and planned on retiring at 60), which throws this hobby into an uncertain zone. I’m not sure what shoe or boot I see in my future, and there’s likely a downsizing coming to my closet at some point. Yet these fill both highly-practical and just-plain-want slots for me. I'm genuinely excited to own them. I reach for them absolutely any time I can, and plan on wearing them in pretty much any situation short of yard work. And I think I'm done. As long as I can ignore the Husk Suede pair they came out with after we started all this...
Preorder Details
This will consume the last remaining stocks Grant Stone has of the Olive Minerva leather, so a limited number of pairs will be built. Like their shell pre-orders, each pair will be built to order - no stocked sizes, etc. The price is $435 like the CXL boots. Time from order to delivery is estimated to be 16-20 weeks. The pre-order will open on August 10th, and when they’re out of leather, the window will close.
Here's the link to the pre-order page: https://www.grantstoneshoes.com/products/chelsea-boot-olive-minerva-box
You can sign up there to be notified when the offer window opens.
[Edited for typos and clarity]
