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

[100 yrs]

for those in the Atlanta area, Sid Mashburn has a pair of ravello ptb in the dover pattern, double leather soles. I did not inquire on available sizes as they appear to be barrie last which I'm not a fan of for shoes.

Spoiler: Warning: Non-Alden question but you guys know your shoes.

Also, are these C&J Coniston?They say made in England. Offered by Sid:

 

[nadav]

All Sid Mashburn branded shoes are made by Alfred Sargent.

 

[Organika]

My first pair of shells...Ravello PTB's

Great choice, such a nice color, two tone already showing.

 

[sazon]



My first pair of shells...Ravello PTB's

excellent first pair! enjoy !

 

[ReppTiePrepster]

Quote:

^ReppTiePrepster: Whether the premium is worth it or not is going to be a personal decision. One consideration is that the Fitzgerald is offered in the equivalent of exotic colors (essentially Cigar and Whiskey), so a similar Alden makeup is likely to sell at a premium to #8 or black shell and be hard to acquire. The Forest last is very nice, though different from anything Alden offers. It is perhaps most similar in fit and style to the Aberdeen, IMO. The shell is Horween, of course, and the finish on Carmina shoes is very high quality. I don't own any CJ or AS, so can't compare.

I can recommend Epaulet very highly. The company is a pleasure to deal with and makes great efforts to offer unique makeups and to build short-run MTOs based on what customers want. You can special order your size and even a wide fitting in the Forest last. This is true even in their exotic shells. So if the style and the fit suit you, then I think both Carmina itself and Epaulet offer good value for the premium cost. I'm not going to say the shoes are better than Alden since I find much of the insistence on the superiority of one brand over another rather silly. We all love Alden here for what it is. I also enjoy Carmina for what it is. I'd say try a pair and see what you think for yourself.

Alden is the king of sophisticasual boots. The barrie and trubalance lasts are perfect for jeans and streetwear. I find Carmina lasts and styling to be on the dressy side. I wear them more with wool trousers and dress slacks. That's why there is a large thread on the MC side for Carmina.

Thanks gents for the feedback. The Fitzgerald in Saddle Shell look especially tempting as I have no whiskey shell and this appears to be similar or ever so slightly darker. This shortwing offering looks really nice. Not sure I'm ready to sink a bunch of money into yet another shell purchase. In any case, I may have to give up shell for the new year after this last one. Uncle was on the money when welcoming Hokie3000 to the thread; shell is extremely addicting!

 

[thebeebs]

Just returned my whiskey PTBs back to TSM. Upon arrival, I placed them next to my Ravello PTBs, and they just looked too similar. The whiskeys as of later are looking a bit darker than my older whiskeys and I felt like I was wasting $690 by keeping them. I almost wonder if Alden is darkening some of their lighter shades to allow themselves to produce these rare, high demand colors at the expense of consistency. Bummer...

PS - Don't have any photos to share on this, since I re-boxed and sent them out today.

 

[Organika]

The Ravello above is perfect, comes across as a Antiqued Whiskey. True though, you will see some darker Whiskeys which start to lose the peanut butter hue. Both of them make a Black PTB look plain Jane.

 

[sevenfoldtieguy]



Just returned my whiskey PTBs back to TSM.  Upon arrival, I placed them next to my Ravello PTBs, and they just looked too similar.  The whiskeys as of later are looking a bit darker than my older whiskeys and I felt like I was wasting $690 by keeping them.  I almost wonder if Alden is darkening some of their lighter shades to allow themselves to produce these rare, high demand colors at the expense of consistency.  Bummer...

PS - Don't have any photos to share on this, since I re-boxed and sent them out today.

My whiskey PTBs from TSM are ever-so-slightly darker than my whiskey LHS and LWB, but nearly identical in shade to my whiskey chukkas. Frankly I like the darker shade of whiskey better if I had to choose between the two shades.

When compared to my ravello PTBs, there is a color difference pronounced enough to justify keeping them. Also, the differences between the two PTBs stand out even more given that my ravellos have dark edging and my whiskeys have antique edging.

Look on the bright side, now you have $690 to acquire something else.

 

[blake3030]

Some very nice discount on a range of Suede Alden boots here
http://www.trunkclothiers.com/brands/alden

 

[Alcibiades]

Alden SF has some nice rare cordovan on its website, including whiskey balmoral wingtips (I don't believe I have seen these offered on a webstie before), whiskey PTBs and ravello longwings in common sizes. I highly recommend the whiskey balmorals

 

[mr chorizo]

there a bunch of new make ups up on Unionmade.com, including a natural cxl LHS which i have been clamoring for. It's on the "tom" last, which i don't know anything about.

does anyone have any info on how this differs from the van last?

edit: here are some side by side images.

TOM last

van last:

 

[zippyh]

Allegedly these are on the Tom last.

 

[Alcibiades]

Sadly, I too have found barrie lasted captoe boots to be a bit narrower than expected. My 10E grant captoe boots fit perfectly, but the 10D barrie captoe boots fit narrower than 10D barrie boots and shoes like chukkas, PTBs and longwings (this is also in contrast to 10D trubalance Indy boots, which fit me great). After much deliberation, I may put two pretty unique captoe boot models up for sale this Saturday on Styforum and ebay...

 

[Burton]



Allegedly these are on the Tom last.

The Tom last looks very nice. Anyone know where you can find shoes made on that last?

 

[Alcibiades]



Allegedly these are on the Tom last.

It looks like the Tom last may have a higher instep, which would be a godsend