The Best Work Boots for Men Lay a Strong, Stylish Foundation

The best work boots for men aren’t just hardworking. Sure, they were designed for sheer, practical utility—another tool in the shed, if you will, not a grail in your closet—but it’s increasingly tough to imagine ‘em relegated exclusively to their original context. These days, work boots have long since transcended their utilitarian origins, and rightly so. Thanks to their rugged functionality, they’ll stay en vogue decades after our robot overlords replace the human hard hats with newfangled automatons, so even if you have no intention of wearing them to a job site, there’s still reason to keep a pair in your shed. Here’s where to start.

• The Best Work Boots Overall: Red Wing Heritage Classic Moc Boot, $330
• The Best Budget Work Boots: Timberland 6" Premium Waterproof Boot, $198
• The Best Everyday Work Boots: Blundstone Original 500 Boots, $200
• The Best Upgrade Work Boots: Danner Rain Forest Boots, $440
• The Best Truly Indestructible Work Boots: Nick’s Builder Pro Boots, $609

Materials: Full-grain leather | Construction: Goodyear welt | Other details: Vibram sole

You think work boots, you probably think Red Wing. More specifically, you probably think these Red Wings. Since their introduction in 1952, few boots have been as instantly recognizable or widely worn—on job-sites and beyond, popping up on folks like Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Thank Me Later-era Drake.

From the handsome moc-toe silhouette and full-grain leather uppers to the invulnerable Goodyear-welt construction and durable Vibram sole, they’re built to survive anything you throw their way and come out the other side looking all the better for it. They’ll look most at home with thrashed denim or stiff chinos, sure, but don’t sleep on using ‘em to bring some extra character to an off-hours suit.

Materials: Water-resistant leather | Construction: Cemented | Other details: Steel shank, pull tabs

Do Blundstones really need an introduction? You’ve seen ‘em on bartenders and oil painters, on carpenters and GQ editors. The OG Australian work boots, designed to survive harsh conditions in the bush, look good on just about everyone with just about everything. The oblong, unassuming shape; the easy-on, easy-off Chelsea boot foundations; the cloud-like insoles; the muck-proof rubber outsoles—it all adds up to a pair of supremely comfortable work boots that can take you from a meeting at the office to a beach day with the kids and back, without ever missing a beat.

Materials: Leather | Construction: Direct-attach/cement | Other details: Padded collar

Nearly 50 years into their run, it's hard to top Timberland's original lug-soled, nubuck leather, wholly waterproof work boots. They’re a staple of New York City style and have remained culturally relevant through the decades thanks to legendary hip hop artists, celebs, and stylish dudes. From hard-hitting collabs to runway ripoffs, it seems like everyone wants a piece of the OG wheats. We loved the boots for three reasons: the solid price point, the utilitarian functionality, and the timeless design. They were comfortable straight from the jump without the need for a break in period. That said, the strong NYC vibes can make it limiting, depending on your style.

Materials: Full-grain leather | Construction: Stitchdown | Other details: Fibeglass shank, 365-day guarantee, electrical hazard certified

Danner’s chops are well-known to hikers, but the Oregonian boot maker’s prowess naturally extends to workwear too. The Rain Forest boot is our favorite among its roster for its boss-level quality and striking good looks. Like most of Danner’s shoes, these are built with the brand’s signature stitchdown construction which not only results in a roomier and more comfortable toebox, but can be resoled several times over.

With full-grain leather uppers, lace-to-toe lacing system for enhanced sizing, waterproof Gore-Tex lining, a lightweight and supportive fiberglass shank, rugged Vibram lugged soles, electrical hazard protection, and a 365-day guarantee, these are stuffed to the gills with premium details. In other words, they’re the work boot upgrade you should consider once it’s time to retire your intro pair.

Materials: Full-grain leather | Construction: Stitchdown | Other details: Steel shank, leather midsole

Nick’s Boots is a legendary boot brand that hails from Spokane, Washington, and one of the few esteemed labels that give the Pacific Northwest its well-known prowess for bootmaking. Beloved by hardworking loggers and firefighters, as well as the forum-roving menswear nerd, Nick’s handmade boots are hailed as among the best and we just so happen to agree. There’s no bad choice if you’re choosing from Nick’s canon of indestructible boots, but the cream of the crop is its Builder Pro boots.

These boots are fully customizable from the leather uppers to the eyelets to the arch-level to the soles and more. With a plethora of high-qaulity full-grain leathers, unbeatable construction with full-leather midsoles and insoles, these boots don’t compromise on anything. That said, that amount of thick leather means you’re in for a brutal break-in process. Once you get past the gauntlet, though, you’ll have the most comfortable pair of boots, perfectly molded to your feet. But with a steep price tag and a long wait period, are these heirlooms worth it? We think so.

As you might be able to tell, we work in fashion, not on a construction site. So we won’t pretend that our picks for the best work boots will be approved by any union (though, some actually are). We could’ve sought out work boots that boast of all the necessary certifications, sure, but we could only take the cosplaying so far. Workwear style has influenced the modern menswear wardrobe in so many ways, from chore coats to blue jeans, and the hardy work boot you see here are just more stylish examples.

That said, we looked for boots that fit a variety of molds, from the strictly utilitarian to the exclusively stylish. Even if a self-described work boot isn’t totally compliant with construction site safety standards, it still needs to be practical and well-built. Ideally the best work boots are made with full-grain leathers, and resolable construction. Comfortable soles, stabilizing shanks, and waterproofness were additional factors we considered. All in all, the work boots we chose are all great values, no matter what you’re willing to pay.

Style is subjective, we know—that’s the fun of it. But we’re serious about helping our audience get dressed. Whether it’s the best white sneakers, the flyest affordable suits, or the need-to-know menswear drops of the week, GQ Recommends’ perspective is built on years of hands-on experience, an insider awareness of what’s in and what’s next, and a mission to find the best version of everything out there, at every price point.

Our staffers aren’t able to try on every single piece of clothing you read about on GQ.com (fashion moves fast these days), but we have an intimate knowledge of each brand’s strengths and know the hallmarks of quality clothing—from materials and sourcing, to craftsmanship, to sustainability efforts that aren’t just greenwashing. GQ Recommends heavily emphasizes our own editorial experience with those brands, how they make their clothes, and how those clothes have been reviewed by customers. Bottom line: GQ wouldn’t tell you to wear it if we wouldn’t.

We make every effort to cast as wide of a net as possible, with an eye on identifying the best options across three key categories: quality, fit, and price.

To kick off the process, we enlist the GQ Recommends braintrust to vote on our contenders. Some of the folks involved have worked in retail, slinging clothes to the masses; others have toiled for small-batch menswear labels; all spend way too much time thinking about what hangs in their closets.

We lean on that collective experience to guide our search, culling a mix of household names, indie favorites, and the artisanal imprints on the bleeding-edge of the genre. Then we narrow down the assortment to the picks that scored the highest across quality, fit, and price.

Across the majority of our buying guides, our team boasts firsthand experience with the bulk of our selects, but a handful are totally new to us. So after several months of intense debate, we tally the votes, collate the anecdotal evidence, and emerge with a list of what we believe to be the absolute best of the category right now, from the tried-and-true stalwarts to the modern disruptors, the affordable beaters to the wildly expensive (but wildly worth-it) designer riffs.

Whatever your preferences, whatever your style, there's bound to be a superlative version on this list for you. (Read more about GQ's testing process here.)