Shoe Damage Report & Shoe P0rn Central - Part II - Page 621

well, the alden version with the inserted commando sole is rather stupid, imo. full or nothing. actually, it depends on the surface you spend on most of your time.

i just received a pair of boots for christmas(i gifted it myself). they came with a thin rubber sole. it's useful right now in the winter conditions. i certainly will walk it down and deceide then.

I agree with you about the sole. I was going to put on the regular commando but I have very good hiking boots. I use the Alden boots for walking the dog - it is very flat here in Chicago area so the JR soles and heels work fine. If it snows, I wear real boots.

i very much like what you had nick do! enjoy wearing

The 3-piece shoetrees are actually wood, and can get stained in various colours. In this case, I presume, it's blue (one of the options springline offers.)

Although I'm not a fan of 'lazy man's shoes', this pair looks very nice and well executed.

P.S. I think have misread your post. Obviously, 'navy or black leather' refers to the shoes not that 'leather' is the material of the trees.

My mistake.

Thamks. They are quite comfortable and I believe very durable now.

Michael

The shoes are navy calf. I've got too many black shoes so I wanted something a little different. They look great with a blue suit.

FTFY.

Alden was a mid-tier maker AT BEST during the heyday of US shoemakers. Since they are one of the final 2 real US makers left, they are relegated to the title, "Best US Shoemaker". The Horween contract was a brilliant business move, however.

 

they look good, imo.

can you cite any support for your above mentioned statement

After looking at near 100 pairs of Vintage American Alligator shoes, I've finally found a keeper for myself.


Custom 1950's Stetson American Alligator

They do, but somehow I get ''cowboy'' feeling over them haha.

The support comes from handling and comparing hundreds of pairs of Vintage US shoes (1920's thru 1950's). Also, look at the vintage catalogs and compare the price ranges of various makers.

Edwin Clapp, Crosby Square, City Club, Stetson, and Florsheim (ESPECIALLY in the 30's & 40's) ALL sold Top Tier US made shoes. 100% hand welted, exquisite closed channel soles, the whole works.

Look, this is NOT to take away from Alden as a SOLID maker. The fact is that they didn't even market to the Top US Market at the time. I'd LOVE to throw up some articles of support here, the truth is that there are so few people that really study vintage shoes. The only way to learn about 'e, is to buy them & handle them for yourself.

I DID do a photo comparison of a recent Alden Longwing shell gunboat & a Vintage Florsheim model. I'll post that in the next coupla weeks.

AGAIN, this is not "Alden Bashing". They were just not considered a top US maker until the rest of the top ones went out of business (or outsourced to China & India).

I like the Cottesmore better:

http://www.crockettandjones.com/Product/Cottesmore-Chestnut