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JermynStreet

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Quote: GREAT post! I do want to give a shout out to my hometown and clarify that St. Louis, MO was in fact the shoe capitol of the world, at one time, and therefore, produced far more shoes than Massachusetts or Maine.
 

Dbc0919

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This will be the last remaining Alden shoes I own...all the rest will be up on B&S soon. If anyone is interested, its a Leffot Ravello LWB Barrie 9D, TSM Whiskey NST Barrie 9D, Moulded Shoe #8 Captoe Boot (all eyelets) Modified Last 9D, Moulded Shoe Snuff Suede Cap Toe Modified Last 9D shoot me a PM.

750419


Noticed you haven't been around in a while. New username, new avatar. Now selling all your Alden's. what gives? If you found another brand for all of us to obsess over, do share.
 

NewYorkIslander

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Why the Alden sell-off Rob?



WHAAAAAAAA? What's up? (Carmina crossover?)

Looking good, nonetheless.


Honestly I'd like to invest a little more $$ into the business, and these are the kicks I wear the least, and feel I could get good dough for.


My apologies, but I'm quoting this for awesomeness. I'll be finally rocking these this spring, hell yeah 
icon_gu_b_slayer%5B1%5D.gif


Yea, these are awesome, I love them.
 

zippyh

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. He went and spoke with "the guy" and ordered a vintage Rolex that sells for $75,000 at auction. He then bought a brand new Rolex Deep Sea SeabDweller, which sells for $10-$12K. These were not the $60 Canal Street knock-Offs and they weren't the $200 High End Noob Luxury Replicas. These watches were $600-$700 and they all had brand new serial numbers which matched up in the Rolex Database as unique items, He took the watches to 4-5 pawn shops just to see what these "experts" thought. He was made offers from $45,000-$55,000 on the vintage watch and $8500-$10,000 on the Sea Dweller. The final test came when he took it to Rolex headquarters in NY where they cleaned the watches, certified that they were authentic and printed out warranties for the new watch based on their service and it's authenticity. Rolex could not spot the top of the top Chinese Fake. The same thing was done with Tag Heuer, Cartier and Patek. At the end of the day, he did not sell these watches as they were purchases by the periodical for the article and were eventually returned to the original manufacturers whose items had been counterfeited.

I'm not buying that one bit...


Yeah I call bullshit on that too.
 

stevent

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The Rolex stuff is probably fake though good fakes can be had if you have the right connections

There is also the real but no authorized a la new balance and stuff like that
 

Gcbrown3

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It's a fact. There was a huge lawsuit and a criminal proceeding.

Not only had the watch been knocked off perfectly, but Rolex's computers had been hacked.

If a painter can knock off the masters. If US currency has to constantly be changed. If people can hack into any computer in the World, why would it surprise any of you that some Chinese syndicate couldn't make a perfect Rolex?

There is almost no single luxury good that maintains its value and can so easily be resold as a Rolex.

With no intellectual property laws and the ability to sell and trade these anywhere in the World, making a watch that can fool the experts is like printing $20,000 bills. If you make a popular stainless model that garners less scrutiny, it's like printing $3000-$6000 bills . The Chinese underworld in Guangzhou have been flooding the markets with high end fakes for some time. Why do you think Rolex has to constantly change their authenticity markings? It's because, people have figured them out.

It's just high quality stainless steel and sapphire crystal with a laser etching of a crown. If you get a valid serial, it seems like a cheap way to make a lot of money in a country where there are no puns five measures for counterfeit brand items.

We're not talking about some one of a kind toubillion constructed of gold.

A stainless submariner or Seadweller, which are the watches that were part of the story are just a series of metal parts.

if you guys don't think that the Chinese could fool Rolex, you're underestimating them.
 

ThArtOfWardrobe

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I move to start "Patina Sundays." Post pictures of your worn Aldens or photos you find online. Bonus points for before and after re-craft/re-sole/shine photos.
 

patrick_b

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It's a fact. There was a huge lawsuit and a criminal proceeding.


There is no way that the Rolex Svc Center was fooled. Maybe a dealer, but not RSC. It's not the case that's in question, it's the movement. Once RSC opens the watch, they can determine if its is their movement or not. All current Rolex watches (and most vintage, w/the exception of the Zenith Daytona for instance) are made with in house movements. The effort and cost required to counterfeit all those parts (the entire movement) so well that it can "fool" the mfr quickly becomes cost prohibitive. Fake watches look good from the outside, not from the inside. Counterfeiters aren't trying to fool RSC, they are trying to sell to a guy who wants to impress people with a fake watch.

There are plenty of fakes good enough to fool an authorized dealer. But any RSC in the world will inspect the movement, not just the case.

If its fact, please share the article you referenced. I'd guess your friend may have been exaggerating.
 
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zippyh

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It's a fact. There was a huge lawsuit and a criminal proceeding.

Not only had the watch been knocked off perfectly, but Rolex's computers had been hacked.

If a painter can knock off the masters. If US currency has to constantly be changed. If people can hack into any computer in the World, why would it surprise any of you that some Chinese syndicate couldn't make a perfect Rolex?

There is almost no single luxury good that maintains its value and can so easily be resold as a Rolex.

With no intellectual property laws and the ability to sell and trade these anywhere in the World, making a watch that can fool the experts is like printing $20,000 bills. If you make a popular stainless model that garners less scrutiny, it's like printing $3000-$6000 bills . The Chinese underworld in Guangzhou have been flooding the markets with high end fakes for some time. Why do you think Rolex has to constantly change their authenticity markings? It's because, people have figured them out.

It's just high quality stainless steel and sapphire crystal with a laser etching of a crown. If you get a valid serial, it seems like a cheap way to make a lot of money in a country where there are no puns five measures for counterfeit brand items.

We're not talking about some one of a kind toubillion constructed of gold.

A stainless submariner or Seadweller, which are the watches that were part of the story are just a series of metal parts.

if you guys don't think that the Chinese could fool Rolex, you're underestimating them.


You seem to be making more **** up.
If this was such a big deal, I'm sure you can provide us links to news stories about it.
 

Hermitedge

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I apologize for opening Pandora's Box in regards to China in regards to their place in the shell shortage. It has snowballed and I didn't mean for it to turn to China bashing.

There are billions of people in China. The ones who are responsible for the outbidding for horse shells don't make up .01% of the population.

Whenever capitalism emerges in a formerly communist country, a new class of uber-wealthy, new money capitalists appear. They don't know how to handle the money and they start going crazy with luxury goods. It happened in the former Soviet Union. 

Whoever said, "Class can't be bought or learned" was wrong. Savoir Faire, morals and values cannot be bought, but over time, class can be learned and , sadly bought as well.. Lets not confuse class with the rapid accumulation of the right material goods.

Look at a certain Hip Hop Artist. He went from crack dealer to a rapper who wore Crooks hoodies and Tier Zero Nike gear to an impresario who wears Turnball & Asser Shirts, Anderson & Sheppard Suits and Cleverly shoes.

The Chinese have bought many of the great Chateaux in Burgundy yet 70% of the Grand Cru vintages that appear in China are fake. They made huge investments in Cuba, but 80% of the top tier Cuban cigars found in China are fake.

The new power class within China purchases Italian, German and British Luxury Cars, ship them to Guangzhou where they are taken apart and reproduced part by part. Then they produce carbon fiber Lamborghini's that do 0-60mph in 10 second are don't  break 110 mph. They look good though.

http://www.chinahush.com/2012/06/24/shanzhai-lamborghini-99-identical-exterior-sells-for-420k-yuan/

They had 34 Apple Stores within Chins, all being identical and carrying identical products. 26 of these were fake and even the employees didn't know that they didn't work for Apple.

http://mobile.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14503724

http://macdailynews.com/2011/07/20/multiple-fake-apple-stores-in-china-even-fake-out-employees/

A friend of mine did a semester in China and learned about the top counterfeiters in the luxury watch market and wrote an article on how crazy if is.

. He went and spoke with "the guy" and ordered a vintage Rolex that sells for $75,000 at auction. He then bought a brand new Rolex Deep Sea SeabDweller, which sells for $10-$12K. These were not the $60 Canal Street knock-Offs and they weren't the $200 High End Noob Luxury Replicas. These watches were $600-$700 and they all had brand new serial numbers which matched up in the Rolex Database as unique items, He took the watches to 4-5 pawn shops just to see what these "experts" thought. He was made offers from $45,000-$55,000 on the vintage watch and $8500-$10,000 on the Sea Dweller. The final test came when he took it to Rolex headquarters in NY where they cleaned the watches, certified that they were authentic and printed out warranties for the new watch based on their service and it's authenticity. Rolex could not spot the top of the top Chinese Fake. The same thing was done with Tag Heuer, Cartier and Patek. At the end of the day, he did not sell these watches as they were purchases by the periodical for the article and were eventually returned to the original manufacturers whose items had been counterfeited.

While the Chinese might be buying all of the shell, they'll figure out a way to turn calf into undetectable cordovan stamped with Horween's famous logo. They might even start making Alden's which might be nicer than Alden's real shoes.

It's a crazy world and the Chinese are brilliant, resourceful and incredibly productive. They work hard and in the last 5-10 years "Made in China" has evolved and  no longer is synonymous with "piece of sh-t."  I'vevread that Chinese Denim is sneaking up on Japan. I know that the " All American" made in the USA brand, RRL, makes most of their $500 cotton sweaters and other gear  in China.

The Chinese should be applauded for achievements which don't harm humans or infringe on intellectual property. The problem us that most advances in Chinese production and innovation come at a cost usually associated with the firmer or the latter.

i just wanted to remind everybody that the guy snapping the whip at the factories, ordering cases of fake Chateau Margaux, smoking fake pre-Castro Cogars, driving his $60,000 Laambirghini and living in a world of gold leaf which would make the Persian community in Los Angeles seem modest and understated; this guy is not China. He's just the guy that we hear about. From my travels and knowledge, the hard working, friendly, salt of the Earth manual laborer who would give you his last bowl of rice if you were hungry; he is what we should think of when we think Chinese.

While we all laugh and scoff, China has positioned themselves where they now manufacture and produce all of the products which used to put our citizens to work.

Masachussetts used to be the center for US shoes; with Brockton and Fall River being huge centers of shoe production. Foot Joy and Reebok left and now it's just Alden. 

As we all see, Alden's quality is going to **** while Carmina, Meermin and the Northhamptonshire British shoe companies along with Viberg and others, are becoming the only shoe companies that we can actually trust with quality. Alden without Cordovan is a mediocre, uninspiring company and that's where we are. The people in the factory don't even realize that those who know think Alden's are a list company. He'll, I've purchased 10 pairs in the last 16 months and have had to return 7-8.

it's sad.


700
 

phorm

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frans boone ravello boot in the wild
Those are great looking. Love the in the wild pics. I have the ravello NST boot on the Aberdeen last from TSM. Would it be redundant to pick these up as well?
Those are beautiful boots! Aberdeen NST seems quite different to me from Plaza moc stitch. :) I just picked up the #8 versions of these boots and I'm sorely tempted to get the Plaza NST from J. Gilbert. Pretty much the only difference would be the "split" stitch, I think.
 

Ahab

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Honestly I'd like to invest a little more $$ into the business, and these are the kicks I wear the least, and feel I could get good dough for.
Yea, these are awesome, I love them.

For some reason this makes me sad. Best of luck with whatever the future brings. :confused:
 

Briar Snob

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Wondering if anyone has interest in a dark brown suede cap toe boot on the Barrie last double oak leather soles. The make-up below was from Moulded Shoe a few years ago style #4081. I think if enough people are interested they may put another order in.




I'd be interested in a pair of those.
 
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