How to compare dates in SQL?
Depending on what Database you are using, you should be able to cast the string to a date and then do your comparison.

i.e. in Sql Server

cast(date as datetime) &gt;= '20150131' ...


That said, I'd typically recommend storing the date as a date if at all possible, and if you do need to use strings, It'd be best to use a more standardized format

i.e.
'YYYY-mm-dd' or even better 'YYYYmmdd' instead of 'mm/dd/YYYY' which, for example, can easily be mixed up with 'dd/mm/YYYY' which is common in many cultures. See this blog post: Bad habits to kick : mis-handling date / range queries