***The official Alden thread *** - Page 2210

I think I am going to try to reintegrate them into the rotation this fall with some dark demin and maybe dome navy chinos/cords...

Why doesn't any retailer offer an unlined #8 LHS with flexwelt, oiled Waterlock soles and Antique edge?

 

Looking quite smart!!!

Same shoes, Cigar Indys from J. Gilbert.

I have one question though
pardon my low quality pictures (Click to show)
Edited by ceoceo - 8/13/12 at 11:48am

IMO, generally speaking whiskey is the least versatile of the shell colors. For me, it's not even close - primarily due to the fact that whiskey is easily the least formal of the colors. Having said that, the whiskey LHS may be my favorite LHS. In addition to the LHS, I also have the LWB and the chukka, both wonderful models in their own right. Whiskey is no doubt unique. All of my whiskeys are worn in casual settings only.

The likelihood of me buying more whiskey models is remote at best.

 

I don't own any Indy and actually never liked it much but THIS one looks awesome. Nice combo with these socks.

I hope you were very grateful to Santa   the FedEx driver.

 

Same here.

The problem is that whiskey is getting rarer than ever these days.

 

+1 on that.  Whiskey shoes are great "trophy" shoes to own due to their lustre, cache and rarity, but sadly they're way left on the formality continuum, and have little range.  As such, my Whiskey shells (unfortunately) get very little mileage on my feet.

Alden NY had a pair of the whiskey monk straps in my size. After thinking about it I didn't buy them and went with some color 8 boots instead, which will get much more wear in the coming months.

Looks like someone wasn't wearing their hairnet when they finished that pair! Me? I'd live with it (and maybe rant a little about Alden QC )

 

thinking that speed hooks will wear holes in your pants is hilarious

Speed hooks won't necessarily ruin your pants, but if you're wearing a nice pair of trousers you can easily get the hem caught in them and rip the seam. This has happened to countless people and is one of the reasons why a "dress" boot will usually have all eyelets rather than speed hooks.

Speed hooks catch on my trouser hem all the time. My hems ride up onto the hooks when I sit, and when I stand they pull pretty hard. It drives me nuts, and though I haven't actually ripped any seams yet I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later.

I guess I can see the issue if you're wearing the boots with proper dress pants. My experience has probably been better as I wear my boots with jeans or chinos and wear only balmorals with suits.

but what about balmoral boots?

Speed hooks can catch on the end of wool pants. It is true that a lot of dressier boots don't have speedhooks, but some (such as a several captoe models) do. Most Indy boots have speedhooks, but a few (like the cigar at Alden NY) don't. LeatherSoul seems to be consistent in that its dressier boots and certain unique boots like Jumper have all eyelets while the more casual boots have speedhooks. The tanker boot models on commando soles tend to have speedhooks, but the NST high boots tend not to. I say that if the boot looks good with suit/wool pants but also has speedhooks, you just have to wear them and try to pay attention and make sure they don't catch. Otherwise, you can switch them out at a cobbler like many people see to be doing in this thread...