I’ve Been Searching For Actually Cute & Comfy Wide-Calf Boots For Years...

Fall is the season of Google: cold early nights, zero plans, the soft glow of a candle, and me in slippers and pajamas trying to find the one item that evade me every year. Boots. The boots. Knee-high boots that will actually fit over my calves and not make them look like chorizo sausage desperate to escape its casing. Such boots have eluded me for a decade because I was looking in all the wrong places. I should have been looking straight at the Original Chore Wide Calf boots from Muck Boots.

I am not the only person to desperately seek everyday knee high boots of this particular ilk, surely. Not high-heeled boots, mind you. But actual, durable cute boots I can wear walking for miles through crunchy leaves with my sweet dog at my side. Boots without adornment, without ruching or stacking or slouching to confuse the eye away from my calves that are apparently too unseemly to be looked at straight on. And for good measure, boots that don’t make my mom-style thighs balloon out the top cartoonishly and will instead be proportionate to the rest of my mom-style body.

Welcome to the party, Muck Boots.

Stats

• Price: $141.99
• Sizes: 5 - 11
• Color: Black
• Who they’re for: Anyone looking for a durable boot with a wider shaft.
• Material: Quick cleaning rubber outsole offers durability and traction on slick surfaces
• Estimated boot height: 40.5cm/ 15.9in
• Estimated max calf circumference: 49cm/ 20.1in

First impressions of the Muck Wide Calf boots

I won’t lie to you, when my Muck Boots first arrived I was worried. They were devoid of any zipper or buttons or laces, the usual accoutrements that tend to help a wide calf wedge itself into a boot. Would my foot somehow get stuck halfway down the line? Would I suffer the dreaded accidental scrunching I had previously experienced in wide-calf boots?

How they feel

Being able to slip my entire foot and leg into these warm boots comfortably with my jeans tucked in was nothing short of the best thing that’s happened to me this year. A miracle. And I’m not even talking jeggings here either. I wore loose jeans that tucked in and left room at the top. The adjustable buckle at the back was helpful when a friend with slightly smaller calves than mine tried them on. The shaft of the boot is solid and doesn’t lose its shape, and these boots keep feet warm and dry even if you happen to get caught in a torrential downpour on a beach in New England.

How they look

The wide calf Muck Boots were nicer than I first imagined with clean, classic lines. After I slipped them on and took them for a test run walk around the neighborhood, they really gave me that “Brit walking the woods back to my stone cottage” kind of feeling I had been longing for, durable like those traditional wellies I had seen but, for the first time ever, with exactly the right amount of room for my legs. These boots made me feel strong and real and up for anything.

Best of all? My most fashionable friends casually said, “Cute riding boots,” the first time they saw me wearing them. Dreams do come true.

Pros & cons

Pros:

• Wide calf without looking like they’re trying to be wide calf
• Warmer than expected, even in cold, wet November weather.
• Tall enough to hit the knee without making movement uncomfortable.
• Super sturdy
• More than enough room to wear with jeans, leggings, and pajama pants tucked in for those early morning school runs.
• They seem like they’ll last for years.

Cons

• Very stiff boots
• Tough to drive in because they are very bulky.
• Heavy to lift when out for a hike until you get used to them.

Final verdict

On the Muck Book website, these boots have a 4/7/5 rating and I’m not surprised. “For all my adult life I couldn't find boots that fit my chunky calves, not even those special wide calf wellies would fit,” writes one happy reviewer. “Finally!!” exclaims another. Girl, same.

The wide calf Chore Muck Boots might not be the boots I would wear to a party, but I’m already wearing them everywhere else. It was very liberating to finally find a pair of classic, riding-style boots that are sturdy and cute and, best of all, fit my calves like it wasn’t actually a struggle.

TL; DR

The search is over.

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