THE OFFICIAL ALDEN THREAD FOR 2020 - SHARE REVIEWS, SIZING, ADVICE, AND PHOTOS.

[Don L]

 

[Vocans]

Been a while since I had a new acquisition let alone two pairs of shell on the same day. Alden 975As from Yenni and Carmina Color 4 shell jumpers. Thought it was an interesting comparison on shades and also the Barrie last against Carmina's Detroit last.

 

[keithp3521]

Hey, fellas. Just listed a pair of size 10 C/E brown calf boots on Ebay. AF84, commando, Barrie last. Thanks.

Alden Wing Tip Boots 10 C/E brown calfskin commando sole | eBay

Worn about once each week, mostly indoors in a carpeted office, though they have been outside - but never in wet or bad weather. Beautiful, brown dress boots. Shoe trees in photos not included, but boot bags and Alden shoe box are included.

www.ebay.com

 

[audog]

I am super excited, just got tracking email that 2 pair of Indy's are on their way. This will complete my Indy collection (at least for now)

 

[sazon]

Cigars

 

[zippyh]

I am super excited, just got tracking email that 2 pair of Indy's are on their way. This will complete my Indy collection (at least for now)

Sure. "Complete".

 

[ironclad]

I am super excited, just got tracking email that 2 pair of Indy's are on their way. This will complete my Indy collection (at least for now)

Sure. "Complete".

Dog, I have to agree with Zip on this one. You may very well be the first person on this forum to ever consider the use of the word “complete” when describing the state of even a sub-portion of their Alden collection...

 

[up1911fan]

Been a while since I had a new acquisition let alone two pairs of shell on the same day. Alden 975As from Yenni and Carmina Color 4 shell jumpers. Thought it was an interesting comparison on shades and also the Barrie last against Carmina's Detroit last.

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Would you mind comparing Detroit to Barrie? Sizing? Considering an MTO on Detroit, but haven't tried the last. Thanks.

 

[Vocans]

Would you mind comparing Detroit to Barrie? Sizing? Considering an MTO on Detroit, but haven't tried the last. Thanks.

This is actually my first pair on Detroit but I can at least share my initial impressions. I have wide feet with a high enough instep that after playing around a lot on sizing I've found sizing up .5 on most lasts to work best for me (e.g., I take Barrie and 2030 TTS, Aberdeen/Plaza/Grant up .5, etc.). In other words, my feet are weird so you may want to take my own personal experiences with a grain of salt...

Nevertheless, I wear a 9E on Barrie very comfortably. For the Carmina, I went with an 8.5 UK on Detroit EEE. For those not experienced with Carmina sizing, EEE in Carmina land is maybe an E on most American lasts and Detroit EE is standard width. They feel fairly similar width wise at the ball to my Barrie E but with a higher instep, which I like a lot. If your instep is normal or on the lower side, you may be able to get away with 1 full size down from Barrie. They're maybe a hair longer overall than Barrie but I feel like most of that may be due to the slightly elongated toe and it's not problematic so far. Comfortable, somewhat wide heel (I've heard this can be a problem for some). If my initial impressions hold true, this last should work very well for my feet and it's surprisingly shapely for a wide last IMO.

My only other Carmina experience is with Forest (EE and not EEE) which felt like it was crushing my instep and Llubi. Despite Llubi being another wide fitting last with a high instep, I never really found it all that comfortable for whatever reason and I suspect it may have something to do with how it tapered.

 

[up1911fan]

Thanks! I have a high instep as well. I go down .5 on Barrie, but it can be an instep issue with some pairs so I need to tru TTS. Sounds like Detroit should work for me.

 

[audog]

Dog, I have to agree with Zip on this one. You may very well be the first person on this forum to ever consider the use of the word “complete” when describing the state of even a sub-portion of their Alden collection...

Oh I know, hence the smiley face emoticon. It will never be complete in reality...

 

[gilby]

Black Tankers - B&M

 

[galileo]

Unionmade Black suede LHS

 

[Shawnc]

Been an AoC week for me. Not by design, just worked out that way. All 4 days in the office. Yesterday and today were boots. For yesterday, went with some black gold. Put me in the 'underrates black shell' camp. I like it, I just like all the other colors better. I buy it, never wear it, then end up selling it. But some outfits just demand black shoes. Rather than to do that dance I decided to address 2 challenges in on swipe. Too many boots so rather than purchase another pair, I converted my AOC-51's to black. These things have gone through so many iterations that they are a shell of their old selves (pun truly is unintended). First I changed from antique to dark edges. Then I swapped commando for single leather soles. And finally, 8 to black......

We actually got snow in the Burg. Nasty enough to bring out the tanks. Trusty AF133's get the call. Nothing like a Tanker on TB......

Happy Friday gents.......

 

[stook1]

Have wanted a pair of these for a while. New to me plaza indy.