***The official Alden thread *** - Page 2335

 

I have the perforated cap toe bal and in my opinion it is too dressy for khakis. 

Those are f-in sexual!

Alden Shell,

So now I've heard both opinions and I don't know which to follow. I'm using #1 below, probably because it seemed easier and more logical.

#1. Remove shoes and insert shoe trees immediately.

#2. Remove shoes and wait overnight (or 24 hours) b4 inserting shoe trees.

Thoughts? And reasons why?

Dupe post.

Give them about an hour to let them cool off a bit, then stick the trees in.

Whiskey LWB & EP with Argyles OTC

Agreed, an NST might not have the range you want. For some reason I prefer a boot to a shoe for a black cap toe blucher, but either would suit your needs. If you're open to colors besides black, I agree that J Crew's #8 perf cap toe blucher boot could be worn formally and casually.

I concur.

#1 is correct for calf.

Neither is correct for shell. As per Alden: remove shoes, wait a few minutes to allow them to cool down, then insert trees.
If I have worn my shells all day, or in particularly hot weather, I allow them a bit longer to cool down before inserting trees. The cool down period is meant to guard against unwanted stretching.

I was browsing old posts in this thread, and it looks like a group of collection pics starts around this post if anyone's interested.

wow and those are tightened all the way? You must have a high arch!

 

General inquiry to all:

 

Where does NST fall in the formal to casual spectrum?

 

Formal ----> Casual

 

Balmoral's > Derby's

Cap > Adelaide > Plain > Whole-cut > Short-Wing > Long-Wing > Straps > Loafers

No brouging > brouging

The idea is to keep the shoe from loosing shape. Your foot has the effect of moistening and warming up the leather, it may even stretch a bit. You don't want the leather to dry and cool back in on itself in a funky way. So you cram the shoe tree in there.
You don't want to leave the tree in there all the time as it may stretch the shoe too much. But this may only be for people like myself who have a generic one size shoe tree. If you get a well made one I doubt it will stretch the shoe in a bad way that you will notice if you leave it in.
I'd guess if you sweat heavily in your boot then letting it dry is more important that shoe treeing it right away. What kind of wear are you having? Try both ways.

I want to do sexy things to these in ways that are illegal in my state of Texas. Very nice!

These are great. What are these?