***The official Alden thread *** Share enthusiasm, reviews, sizing, advice, and photos.

[Shouldaville]

For those that wanted a CXL split toe, Unionmade has a natural version of the McCoppin.

 

[sazon]



Casual Friday for me as well. Not to mention -9°F at home this morning before my drive to work. (its March tomorrow, this is getting ridiculous)

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Proper! Love these boots.

 

[anrobit]

do you think #4 might cost more? maybe the profit margins arent as good?

I'm not sure if that's the case. Alden could charge whatever they want for a #4 boot, and I can't imagine #4 is that much more expensive than any of the other light colours

 

[Papa Doble]



Any thoughts on the color imperfections in the tongue of this boot?

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The rest of the shoe seems pretty close to perfect for Alden standards.

Okay, last question - whomever was working on the welt was a bit overzealous with the hammer.

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You can actually see unstained areas and there is a sizable dent on both welts. I compared it to my other boots/shoes and none of them have that particular defect. Is that something to worry about?

As was pointed out earlier, if you look at a pair of Aldens long enough, you'll probably find some imperfection(s). Questions you might ask yourself when you inevitably notice them are:

1. Is this a functional issue (upper pulling apart from welt, etc.), or just aesthetic (dye issues, etc.)?
2. Where is it on the shoe? On the toe or vamp for everyone to see, or on the side, back, tongue, …, where it is not as visible?
3. How difficult will it be to get a replacement pair (stock model or exclusive makeup/rare shell color), and how likely is it that that pair will have fewer imperfections?
4. Is this something that will bug you every time you wear them?

Everyone has their own tolerance of QC issues, and method of determining whether to keep a shoe. It is presumably this Alden veteran wisdom that posts like yours (and mine at times in the past) seek.* My $0.02: the tongue is the best place to have dye issues if you're going to have them, and you can probably put some black edge dressing on the welt if you're careful. If they fit well, you like the style, and if your answer to my last question above is "no," then I would probably keep them if I were you. *Why people who have tried out Aldens and decided they aren't for them (not Alden veterans like Alcibiades, MrDV, SFTG, mcarthur, NAMOR, RTP, etc., as I'm calling them) -- whether due to QC issues or other reasons -- come into the Alden thread and say "This is why you're all crazy. I can get perfect C&J, AS, Vass, etc., for the same price as your crappy Aldens. Aldens are not worth $XXX." when a post like yours is made, is confusing. There is a reason this thread is the fourth most popular thread all time on SF, and the most popular shoe thread of all time on SF. /endrant

Hell, I'm spending over $800 on these boots..just want to make sure I'm getting $800 worth of quality.

I completely understand. Determining worth is a difficult question though, and one you will have to figure out for yourself. Unfortunately, if you were to part with these, you would either have to ship them back to FB in the Netherlands, or sell them here on on eBay, likely at a loss. Ease of return is also something to consider in the future.

 

[Papa Doble]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

LoL. I don't hate Sazon at all. I was just joking. I do wish that I was in the Alden world before Color 4 disappeared.

I will also state that I have no clue why Cigar is a rare shell color. It doesn't look particularly light to me that would cause only 1% of shells being candidates for the color due to its inability to hide imperfections. I guess they know more than I do.

I too do not get this.

 

[Vicious49]

I saw that UnionMade email too. I might be interested in the navy suede Dovers but didn't see them on their site.

 

[Vicious49]

Alden def has some QC issues. My kudu chukkas had the right tongue sewn so it was skewed to one side. It was at an angle and I figured over time it would be uncomfortable and annoy me. For this reason I sent it back and had O'connells check the other pair they had in my size and he said it had the same issue. Not sure what Alden is doing there. For this reason I've been hesitant to pull the trigger on the kudu chukkas from anywhere else. I might give them a shot again a bit down the road after everything from this batch is hopefully sold off.

 

[tampatravel]

Certainly ... in good company with these J.Crew #8 boots

 

[docalden2013]

whiskey lwb's today (yes, autocorrect, I do not mean labs; apple needs to get with the Alden lingo...). you guys have reminded me that I've forgotten about these for too long

 

[circleslife]

Ha! I thought the same thing when I was in Alden DC a month or two back and Kathy showed me the Ravello medallion toe everyone was going crazy over. Jim also showed me the Cigar color that they were going to be making CT boots of and I was like - "I'll take the #8, it looks better."

Both, my new Ravello PTB and Chukkas are much darker shade than I see here posted. Nowhere close to Mr DV's. Do they always fade as much? I like the lighter, reddish tone I see more often. The ones I got are closer to acigar and color 8 mutt.

 

[MrDV]



ravello nsts for me today.....doing my best Mr. DV.....

Very nice looking combo atl. Your shoes look sweet.

+1 on this thread being particularly helpful and civil compared to many of the other SF threads. It is especially nice that when you ask a question on this thread, people actually answer it and give input, instead of telling you to try and piece together an answer from hundreds (in this case almost 5000) previous pages. Thank you to the gentlemen here who actively participate in our collective bloodlust for Alden.

+1. I enjoy the general "happy to be here" demeanor shared by members. We all have strong opinions, but most keep things in perspective and remember this is supposed to be fun.

Color 8 or Ravello? Because I'm pretty damn sure I'd be willing to pay a bundle to turn one of MrDV's Ravello wingtip boots into a sweet wallet...

Funny.

No shell for DV or I till Monday. It's raining till then and neither of us like to wear Ravello in the rain. I guess we can get away with that here.

Sad but true. The storm of the decade. Alpine grain for a few days.

Hello Gents - color 4 captoes

Freaking awesome sazon.

 

[Subutai]

Maiden voyage of my Leffot lwb's. Thanks to RTP for encouraging me to keep!

 

[irishcafe]



For those that wanted a CXL split toe, Unionmade has a natural version of the McCoppin.

Alden Ranger Moc? That's nice!

 

[irishcafe]

Double post please delete.

 

[Michigan Planner]



Alden Ranger Moc? That's nice!

I have #8 Ranger Mocs (from the Madison Avenue shop) and they are by far the most worn pair of Alden that I have. I love them. If I could round out the shell rainbow in any style of shoe or boot, that would be the one.