Meermin Chelsea: Worth a Look
Price: $255
Why Buy?
The Meermin Chelsea is an affordable way to get a stylish and serviceable pair of Chelseas
Why Avoid?
The Meermin Chelsea does have a few construction flaws from the factory, and confusing sizing combined with no free exchanges means you’ll likely be out of pocket more than you expect.
Specs
| Model | Wholecut Chelsea |
| Height | 6.5″ |
| Size | 11.5 E UK / 12.5 D US |
| Weight | 646 g |
| Meterials | Calf / Rubber |
| Construction | Goodyear Welt |
| Country of Origin | China |
History
Meermin as a brand likes to say that they’ve been around for “decades.” While technically correct, at 23 years old, I’m not sure that’s the term others would use to describe them. However, while they might not be that old, they are still one of the brands to pioneer “direct to consumer.” They even still have the “cut out the middle man” and “pass the savings onto you” language in the descriptions they use online.
Today that jargon justifiably gets eye rolls. However, back when the company as founded in 2001, there really were a lot of middle men. For shoes sold in a retail store around that time, the store would typically buy the shoes at wholesale for less than 50% of MSRP. More recently, margins have been cut drastically as everyone has moved online, but the savings at the time were real.
As for the brand, their founder will tell you he comes from a long line of shoemakers. Descending from workers for Yanko, once layoffs started to happen Pepe Albaladejo knew he had to do something different. He wanted to focus on affordability at all costs.
Interestingly, he wasn’t the only member of his family to start a business. A relative started Carmina. Though, they are distant enough that they don’t work together.
All that being said, affordable is great – but it’s not everything. Many people (myself included) have had concerns with how Meermin got to their affordable price. Historically, Meermin’s customer service could leave a lot to be desired. Add in sizing that was hard to nail down, an extremely limited physical presence, and high shipping and return costs and Meermin was hard to recommend.
Recently, however, they’ve been working to change that. Shipping is now free. Returns still cost $15, but that’s less than half of what it was. And, while I have not dealt with them personally, folks online say customer service has improved.
Based on this, I had to check: is Meermin worth it? Let’s dive in and find out
Looks
Upper
The upper of this Meermin Chelsea boot is about as basic as basic can be. And, believe it or not, that is what makes this boot so special.
You might be familiar with the term “clicking” in leatherworking. Clicking refers to the process of finding what part of the hide will be used for which panels of the product. Generally, the smaller the panels, the easier clicking can be. Or, in other words, the cheaper the hide the company can buy. If you’ve ever wondered why those really cheap leather bags in the mall are a ton of really small pieces? That’s why.
Another thing you’ll notice is that this boot is a whole cut Chelsea. This means that the entire upper of the boot is from a single piece of leather. The reason this is special is that finding a piece of leather this large without imperfections takes up a huge portion of the hide, and requires higher quality leather cuts because of it.
Or, at least that’s how the marketing goes. While something like R.M. Williams whole cuts really do have a vast swath of clean leather, Meermin does have a few imperfections on these. Though, they are really minor. At this price point it doesn’t worry me at all, but you should know you’re not getting a $600 boot for $200.
Attached to this leather are two rubberized gussets on each side of the ankle. They are a bit thinner than I would like, and three of the four panels on this pair have minor stains on them from the factory. But, again, at the price I’m not that upset about it.
Inside, the boot is lined with fairly standard lining leather.
Mid and Outsole
The bottom half of the Meermin Chelsea is a bit less cut and dry than the upper. On first glance, everything looks great. Brown edge dressing works well with the 270 degree welt. The edges are really well sanded. Way better than a comparably price pair of Allen Edmonds.
The outsole Meermin used on this pair is an unbranded rubber outsole done up in the studded Dainite style. There are a whole lot of glue stains here, but after wearing them for 2 days you’ll never know so, again, probably worth the price trade off.
Where things are harder to excuse are the things you see that you really shouldn’t. And by that, I mean the interior welt stitching. Up by the toe, you can see some of the internal stitching of the shoe. This means that if those laces get wet, water will get wicked directly into the interior of the boot.
If these are properly waxed you might be able to mitigate it. At least, you might be able to mitigate most of it.
Summary
From a style perspective, there really isn’t that much to say about the Meermin Chelsea. I think most Cleasea buyers will like it that way.
They are, for sure, on the more formal side. Personally, I was looking for something to wear on the rare occasion where I need to wear a suit but the weather is really poor. As far as styling goes, these will be great for that. However, while I probably would go with another offering, you could wear these all the way down to smart casual with the right kind of outfit.
Fit & Comfort
Fit
First, it’s important to note that all Meermin shoes, including the Chelsea, use U.K. sizing. That would typically mean going down a full size from your U.S. shoe size. This particular pair is made on their Hiro last. Meermin suggests that this fits true to size, but I’d say it’s slightly narrow – particularly in the toe box.
If you have feet on the more narrow size, I would follow Meermin’s advice. That is, going one full size down from your U.S. size. However, if your feet are wide, or even on the wider side of standard, I’d go down one-half size.
Personally, I followed my own advice and went with a Meermin size 11.5 / U.S. 12.5, a half size down from my 12 D Brannock. I find these are wearable, but even going just ½ size down I wouldn’t mind a bit more width.
Comfort
Comfort has never been Meermin’s strong suit, and I wouldn’t say these are particularly comfortable, but there is a lot here to like.
First, let’s start of with the bad. Out of the box, the leather is incredibly stiff. Not in a “oh, this supple leather is so thick it’ll take time to break in” thick. No, in the “this thin leather is also rock hard” kind of way. Add in that the mid- and outsole are also very stiff out of the box and they are not comfortable on day one.
However, there is surprisingly good arch support compared to Meermins I have had in the past. I don’t know if this is a change across the board or something unique to their boots, but I won’t complain. Further, the insole is a very nice veg tanned leather. This should take your foot’s shape over time and improve comfort.
I wouldn’t want to wear these all day if I were walking around, but they are fine for the office. At least, as long as you find the last fits you.
Materials & Construction
Materials
On their website, Meermin actually does an OK job explaining exactly what materials are used in their products. This is a refreshing change from the European brands we’ve taken a look at over the past few months that just say things like “local leather.”
The upper of this boot is made from boxcalf leather from Tannerie d’Annonay. Personally, I find Annonday calf to be overly stiff, however I’ll be the first to admit I’m in the minority. Annonay calf is often considered the best large-scale calf leather you can find, so nothing to complain about here.
The lining is also calf – though Meermin doesn’t say from where. Inside, clastic panels can be found at both the heel and the toe, perfectly acceptable for this price point.
Underneath your foot a full veg tanned leather insole feels great. The insole sits on top of a leather midsole, steel shank, and some cork to fill it all out.
On the bottom of the boot, a rubber outsole in a studded pattern finishes everything off. The rubber feels pretty stiff, at least when new. This probably isn’t great for grip, but it does mean that it should be very durable.
Overall, the materials on the Meermin Chelsea boot are fair for the price. While nothing in here will really blow you away, they also didn’t cut any corners. Everything in the boot should last for several years.
Construction
The Meermin Chelsea, as you can see from the exposed interior stitching, is made using goodyear welted construction. What this means is that a piece of fabric (known as gemming) is attached to the upper on one side and the welt on the other. This welt is then sewn to the outsole. All of this combined means that it’s fairly easy to replace the outsole without putting excess wear on the upper.
Being the main way high quality shoes are made, there is a lot to like about goodyear welted footwear. This style of footwear is fairly water resistant (when there are no exposed stitches, at least), and can last a very long time. As for drawbacks, it can be more expensive to make.
I should also note, Meermin are made in China, Shangahi to be specific. For some folks this matters a whole lot, but for others it doesn’t matter at all.
Ease of Care
Taking care of the Meermin Chelsea requires nothing special beyond standard leather shoe care.
First, you’re going to want to make sure you keep shoe trees in these when not in use. If you’re the type of person who likes to have everything look just so, Meermin does offer sized shoe trees for $40. In the world of branded and individually sized shoe trees, that’s not that bad. However, you’ll get 99.9% of the benefit from a generic wooden pair off Amazon for half that price.
For cleaning, your best bet is going to be a simple horsehair brush. Again, you can find these branded or just get one off of Amazon. They all work the same.
Every 4 to 6 months, depending on wear, you’ll want to condition the boots. Personally, I suggest Bick 4. It works great and is among the most affordable options out there. However, if you prefer Lexol or Saphir, both of them will work well. You may also choose to polish your Chelseas, which will help with water resistance.
Once the outsoles have worn out these should be very easy to get resoled. Meermin has done resoles at request, however you can also take these to any quality cobbler near you. Expect to pay around $100 to $125 to get a new sole put on.
Pricing & Value
I’ve mentioned pricing a lot in this review, and that is for a good reason. The Meermin Chelsea boot comes in at a very reasonable $240 dollars. While not the absolute cheapest out there, that is among the most affordable goodyear welted options. And, to make it even better, it’s this price year-round. No need to wait for a sale like some other brands.
In fact, it’s so affordable that there isn’t much else in that price range to recommend. Thursday has a few around $200, though I’d struggle to recommend them. They also have their very nice Black Label line, but only one colorway is less than $345 – this Cacao pair for $289.
The Helm Finn also comes in at a similar price point. Though, that one is different enough in design that I can’t imagine anyone cross-shopping them.
No, the only real comparison is the Allen Edmonds Liverpool. While this pair has an MSRP of $495, if you wait around for one of their big sales they have several times a year, it’s likely the Liverpool will be in that $250-270 range.
Are the Meermin Chelsea Boot Worth It?
With all of that being said, are the Meermin Chelsea boots worth it?
Well, first things, first. It is going to be very easy to mis-size on this pair. From inconsistent suggestions on how far to size down, to inconsistent suggestions on width, there is a very good chance that your first pair won’t be right. Returns are not free. Just assume you’ll be paying $15 more than they cost – so change the price to $255.
OK, with that out of the way, are the Meermin Chelsea boots worth $255? I’d say that for most people, they are. We can start with the elephant in the room of this review – the exposed internal stitching. This is bad. Really bad. I certainly wouldn’t fault you for avoiding the brand because of it.
However, the reality is that every other pair in a similar design for a similar price is going to be Blake stitched. A form of construction that also has their internal stitching exposed. Meermin can and should do better, but that’s just the reality of buying shoes at this price point.
Outside of that, there really are not any major flaws that would mark the shoes down. The materials are not my personal favorite, but they are objectively from high quality sources. The last isn’t what I would pick, but again, there is nothing objectively wrong with the pattern.
Meermin is trying to build an affordable Chelsea boot that looks good and won’t fall apart in a few wears. They’ve done so.
I had to exchange my first pair of Meermin Chelsea boots from a 9.5D (these were very narrow in the toe box, to a 10D, which were still narrow in the toe box. However, the 10D boots were huge around the vamp, midfoot, and heel, making these useless for common wear. I would stay away from Meermin boots and look at other brands with similar pricing that are made in the USA, Europe, or South America,
Thanks for sharing more sizing advice!