The Official Alden Thread for 2018 - Share Reviews, Sizing, Advice, and Photos.

[BackInTheJox]

Have a pair of Oak Street Boots, not overly impressed. They aren't bad, but for the price I expected a little more. Maybe loafers are better?

I believe they have different manufacturers for their loafers and boots. By all accounts, the loafers are better.

Their return window is tight though, so you may want to stick with Rancourt. But I do love my OSB loafers. I tried a pair of bluchers and agree the quality didn’t seem as good.

 

[cesco10]

Depends on the retailer and how quickly they sell through an order. In this case I assume you either have a fairly uncommon size or they don’t sell a lot of these loafers at this store.

I have a 7,5 US. Here in Europe (I live in Milan) the width available is almost always the E. I have purchased them from Upper Shoes that has boutiques in Paris and Lyone

 

[zippyh]

What happened to whiskey Wednesday?

 

[Misterg12]

I feel like I saw these on eBay. BB?

Yep . All shampooed up and looking new.

 

[chipshot]

Ha .. nice trow zippyh

 

[milesbeyond]

EDIT - B+M's description of these states hand-sewing on the vamp - I thought Alden only did this on the shell models? Any easy to to tell by looking at it? Sorry, untrained eye here!

My TSM seconds arrived as well - a day earlier than expected. Simple white box and no bags - but a nice short metal shoe horn.



I believe these to be the Brick+Mortar Burnished Tan Calfskin NST Tanker boots.

The seconds blemish is on the left outside shaft - a dark mark (that looked like it was attempted to be brushed/buffed out). Maybe the size of a penny?


It will be hardly noticeable once they're on my feet and I can't find any other causes for concern. Stitching looks great and welt looks clean. Creasing might not be the prettiest once I get some wear on these but not a problem to me. Seconds price on a makeup I'd only improve upon by giving brass eyelets (making them similar to the Brogue Shop Cognac Tankers) since I won't be able to snag a pair of Citi Shoes Whiskey Tankers anytime soon.

 

[DWH]

Couldn't help but take a pic. This sapphire stuff made so many blemishes go away.

 

[madhat]

Couldn't help but take a pic. This sapphire stuff made so many blemishes go away. View attachment 963843

And made them amazingly glossy!

 

[smfdoc]

Consider this as a cross post PSA concerning hanging shoe bags. You know, the one that hangs on the bar and holds 10 pairs? Yeah, I have 4 and several are full. Well, I was just doing some shoe cleaning and I heard a few noises from the closet. They were momentary and I did not know what caused them. I came back to the room several hours later to find a complete structural failure of the top shoe compartment and the bag had vomited three pairs into the floor. 10 pairs of 11 EEE shoes, most with double oak soles and all with shoe trees and bags, must have weighed about 50 pounds. Turns out the bags are designed for sling back pumps and not LWBs. So, I will pick up several new bags and spread my shoe around in the 5 bags to avoid the next catastrophic failure. Oh, the humanity!

 

[DWH]

Consider this as a cross post PSA concerning hanging shoe bags. You know, the one that hangs on the bar and holds 10 pairs? Yeah, I have 4 and several are full. Well, I was just doing some shoe cleaning and I heard a few noises from the closet. They were momentary and I did not know what caused them. I came back to the room several hours later to find a complete structural failure of the top shoe compartment and the bag had vomited three pairs into the floor. 10 pairs of 11 EEE shoes, most with double oak soles and all with shoe trees and bags, must have weighed about 50 pounds. Turns out the bags are designed for sling back pumps and not LWBs. So, I will pick up several new bags and spread my shoe around in the 5 bags to avoid the next catastrophic failure. Oh, the humanity!

View attachment 963914

Well mine hang from my door and caused my door to come off its top hinge - 50% of the hinges on my closet door. Now it holds only a couple pairs and all my shoe care stuff.

 

[M635Guy]

Amaretto is cool. But when will Alden produce some Ravello batches?

Also, does anyone have an interest in a new in box cigar cap toe blucher in 10.5?

When the pile of the shells is big enough to do runs. It's not a regular/predictable process.

 

[sanomnia]

Nice little addition from TSM:

View attachment 963604

And for the shoes -- seconds with a slight blemish on the outer half of the right shoe. Looking forward to wearing these fairly hard, so nothing to worry about.

View attachment 963605

View attachment 963606

Looks good. May I know is that the recent TSM irregular?

 

[M635Guy]

EDIT - B+M's description of these states hand-sewing on the vamp - I thought Alden only did this on the shell models? Any easy to to tell by looking at it? Sorry, untrained eye here!

Alden does hand-stitching on a wide variety of non-shell shoes. I'm guessing you misunderstood a comment that on Indy boots, Alden only does hand-stitching on shell and not machine stitching. That doesn't mean they don't do hand stitching on other things.

I think you do tend to see hand-stitching more on shell because there is a big adder in time for hand-stitching and lots of stockists request that feature on shell models to differentiate the product and maximize the profit (because they have to wait 4-6 months extra).

 

[milesbeyond]

Alden does hand-stitching on a wide variety of non-shell shoes. I'm guessing you misunderstood a comment that on Indy boots, Alden only does hand-stitching on shell and not machine stitching. That doesn't mean they don't do hand stitching on other things.

I think you do tend to see hand-stitching more on shell because there is a big adder in time for hand-stitching and lots of stockists request that feature on shell models to differentiate the product and maximize the profit (because they have to wait 4-6 months extra).

Ahh, yes. That was the comment I was referencing in my head. Makes sense! Thanks.

 

[Misterg12]

EDIT - B+M's description of these states hand-sewing on the vamp - I thought Alden only did this on the shell models? Any easy to to tell by looking at it? Sorry, untrained eye here!

My TSM seconds arrived as well - a day earlier than expected. Simple white box and no bags - but a nice short metal shoe horn.

View attachment 963823

I believe these to be the Brick+Mortar Burnished Tan Calfskin NST Tanker boots.

The seconds blemish is on the left outside shaft - a dark mark (that looked like it was attempted to be brushed/buffed out). Maybe the size of a penny?
View attachment 963824

It will be hardly noticeable once they're on my feet and I can't find any other causes for concern. Stitching looks great and welt looks clean. Creasing might not be the prettiest once I get some wear on these but not a problem to me. Seconds price on a makeup I'd only improve upon by giving brass eyelets (making them similar to the Brogue Shop Cognac Tankers) since I won't be able to snag a pair of Citi Shoes Whiskey Tankers anytime soon.

Excellent snag. I would imagine after several conditionings and brushing that mark will begin to fade but who cares they look fantastic.